A previous unique pressures soldier is taking legal action against the federal government, declaring he was blacklisted by his device and pressed out of the army after he knocked Canadian soldiers’ supposed participation in the murder of unarmed individuals in Afghanistan.
The soldier is additionally calling one existing and 2 previous top Canadian generals that he claims lessened or fallen short to properly examine Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) participation in the supposed murders.
Claude Lepage, a previous participant of JTF2, among Canada’s most exclusive and deceptive army devices, submitted a declaration of case in Quebec Superior Court recently. He is asking the court to honor him virtually $3 million in problems for the therapy he claims he obtained because of his activities as a whistleblower.
The accusations in the court files have actually not been evaluated and neither the Canadian federal government neither the Armed Forces have actually yet submitted any kind of protection.
Lepage’s declaration of case declares it was his whistleblowing that led the army to hold 2 queries, called the Sand Trap examinations, taking a look at Canadian soldiers’ activities in Afghanistan and the activities of union soldiers offering together with them.
It claims he experienced “discrimination, retaliatory measures, abuse of rights, serious negligence and numerous violations of his rights … after having reported to his chain of command, the execution of Afghan civilians by members of his unit and by members of a foreign government agency.”
A record originating from the queries ended Canadian soldiers not did anything criminal inAfghanistan However, it recognized that they might have witnessed war crimes committed by coalition troops from various other nations. A greatly redacted variation of the record was revealed in 2018.
The record decried a culture of secrecy bordering harmful goals in Afghanistan amongst Canada’s unique pressures.
Lepage’s accusations, currently revealed in the declaration of case, supply a home window right into acts of revenge versus unarmed Afghans by Canadian and union soldiers and question concerning the activities of his regulating police officers despite severe accusations of transgression.
A team of army scuba divers from JTF2 go back to the anchors at Shearwater, near Halifax, onNov 18, 2004. Images of the evasive device are unusual. Security guards avoided a CBC News professional photographer from taking photos of the outside of the device’s head office, Dwyer Hill, in Ottawa, onTuesday (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)
5 records of noncombatant murders
Between 2005 and 2008, while Lepage remained in Afghanistan functioning as a sergeant in JTF2, the court files claim he reported to his pecking order 5 circumstances of Afghan private citizens or unarmed individuals being targeted or eliminated by participants of his device and participants of an additional federal government army working with joint goals with the device.
The legal action declares the very first took place in December 2005. After a JTF2 helicopter was obliterated in fight, Lepage claimed a participant of the device discharged an anti-tank tool at a private home and after that performed a “dynamic entrance” to amaze and daunt individuals inside.
Then, in May 2006, the early morning after JTF2 soldiers were assaulted repetitively throughout an evening procedure, participants of the device pounded numerous noncombatant homes, the paper claims. It claims Lepage saw the damaged homes later and satisfied an old male bring a bag loaded with human remains. The male claimed the remains were what was left of his family members.
In the legal action, Lepage claimed that to his understanding there was no inner examination right into the battles.
That July, according to the declaration of case, an unarmed male showed up at a JTF2 detachment in Afghanistan with his hands in the air, evidently giving up amidst a procedure the Canadian army had actually referred to as “Bad Doctor.” Members of the device chewed out him not to relocate, however the detachment’s leader after that fired the male 5 times, eliminating him right away.
Lack of impartiality in inner examinations: Lepage
Lepage claims he vocally reported each of these occasions to his pecking order and maintained a journal throughout his time with the device. The capturing of the unarmed male motivated an inner examination, however the captain placed in cost of the probe, Steve Boivin, was additionally accountable of the extremely procedure that had actually caused the male’s fatality.
Shortly afterwards, the legal action claims Lepage metCol D. Michael Day, that was after that the leader of JTF2, and reported the absence of impartiality of the Bad Doctor examination along with physical violence and aggression from several of his associates in the device versus the Afghan noncombatant populace.
Former priest of nationwide protection Anita Anand speaks with Maj.-Gen Steve Boivin, leader of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command on Tuesday, March 21, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The leader that apparently eliminated the unarmed male was ultimately advertised to sergeant. Lepage additionally knocked this to his pecking order, according to the legal action.
In November 2007, the paper claims Lepage’s associates notified him that participants of an additional nation’s armed force had actually targeted private citizens throughout joint goals with JTF2 while he had actually been away for numerous months.
The paper declares it had not been long in the past Lepage saw it himself. In a fight goal on New Year’s Day, the legal action claims Lepage saw the implementation of a damaged Afghan noncombatant by the various other nation’s soldier.
The fight goal finished with the fatalities of 3 unarmed individuals, according to the legal action. When a JTF2 colonel was notified of the noncombatant fatalities, Lepage declares in the declaration that the male left of the area and did not participate in the “debriefing” that complied with.
It claims that 2 weeks later on, Lepage once more metCol Day, that was after that accountable of theCanadian Special Operations Forces Command Lepage claimed he wished to proceed taking part in fight goals however claimed he really did not wish to belong of goals that caused the intentional murder of private citizens or individuals that were unarmed.
Career unwinding
The following day, the declaration of case states Lepage was sent out home without description. Back in Canada, he was designated to JTF2’s training cell, therefore started the unravelling of his army job and what Lepage’s attorneys suggest shows up to have actually been initiatives by the Canadian army to stop liability for the activities Lepage knocked.
A CAF instruction note acquired by Lepage’s attorneys claims the sergeant was repatriated to Canada from Afghanistan because of “operational stress injury,” however Lepage was never ever analyzed neither spoken with any kind of type of health and wellness expert in his time with the device, according to the legal action.
While Lepage was designated as a teacher at the JTF2 training device in Canada, CAF medical professionals detected him with trauma (PTSD). They and the head of his device, Michael Rouleau, later on advised he be noted as a “non-available” participant of the Canadian army.
Former Canadian Joint Operations Commander Lt.-Gen Mike Rouleau talks throughout a press conference on a Canadian Forces helicopter accident in 2020 inOttawa (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
According to Lepage and numerous medical professionals priced estimate in the court paper, the condition was not mainly connected to battle goals however rather to the anxiety Lepage really felt over the absence of activity complying with examinations right into the noncombatant fatalities.
The action lowered his wage by over half and axed him from the elite device.
The legal action claims the armed force was slow-moving to respond to Lepage’s accusations of transgression and information just how the CAF just developed the Sand Trap queries after Lepage looked for the participation of Rom éo Dallaire, at the time a resting participant of the Canadian Senate.
In 2009, when the Sand Trap examinations were recurring, the paper claims JTF2 pecking order informed Lepage he might return to the device as an instructor on the problem that he not offer his battle journal to the Sand Trap query. In the legal action, Lepage claims he declined this deal due to the fact that it broke his worths.
Lepage’s problem enhanced throughout and after the Sand Trap examinations and 3 various medical professionals claimed he would certainly have the ability to go back to function, according to the declaration of case. But it claims army authorities held a conference without medical professionals and declined to restore him right into the device, according to CAF detectives that later on considered his situation.
Lepage declares in the legal action that he was blacklisted by JTF2 in “retaliation” for his speaking up concerning the device’s participation in noncombatant fatalities.
Lepage was pressed out: Fellow soldiers priced estimate
Lepage’s attorneys claimed 2 of his fellow soldiers in JTF2 taped promised declarations sustaining his accusations. The initially was taped on March 13, 2013, byMaster Cpl St éphan Poirier supporting Lepage’s accusations concerning the murder of 2 Afghan private citizens throughout the Bad Doctor procedure. Poirier claimed he and others in the device had “expressed their profound disapproval” concerning the physical violence. Poirier passed away by self-destruction in December 2015.
A 2nd, by an additional JTF2 participant,Sgt Paul Demers, was signed up onOct 4, 2018. The declaration by Demers duplicated in the declaration of case states he was with Lepage when both males saw a participant of an additional nation’s army kill 2 unarmed Afghan private citizens.
It’s uncertain in what context the declarations were taped.
Both Demers and Poirier specified that it was understood in the device that Lepage was pressed out and dealt with unjustly after he increased problems concerning the device’s activities. Demers’s testament defines just how Rouleau would certainly defame Lepage before the device.
“Rouleau made, in my presence and in front of members of the unit, disapproving comments about Mr. Lepage’s behaviour and the fact that he denounced the death of an Afghan civilian,” according to the testament priced estimate in the paper. “Mr. Rouleau implied that the unit disapproved of the fact that [Lepage] denounced the situation and that the treatment Lepage received would apply to those who denounced similar situations.”
Lepage additionally declares in the legal action that the CAF was irresponsible in managing his documents. Despite 3 expert medical professionals reporting that Lepage was no more struggling with PTSD and was fit to stay with the CAF, the army clinically launched Lepage, specifying that his PTSD totaled up to a long-term clinical problem.
After he left JTF2 and was launched by the CAF, it took greater than one decade for a board assessing his situation to establish that he had actually been dealt with unjustly and recognize that his launch was “unjustified.” The board advised that Lepage obtain an apology, settlement and be acknowledged as an expert of JTF2, according to the paper.
But it claims Lepage obtained neither. As an outcome, he has actually been not able to participate in occasions with various other previous participants of JTF2.
The 3 regulating police officers Lepage called in his legal action, Day, Rouleau and Boivin, all took place to operate in the highest possible tiers of the CAF. Day and Rouleau are currently retired, however Boivin is presently a lieutenant-general accountable of Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC), basically managing most CAF procedures in Canada, North America and all over the world. Rouleau formerly held that function.
In reaction to CBC News concerns, Day composed that the accusations that caused the Sand Trap queries have actually been “consistently refuted” which broadcasting them has a “direct impact on the well-being of those accused and exonerated of these acts.”
“They have repeatedly been proven innocent,” he composed, “and yet once again they will be the victims of media attention that will doubtless dwell on the salaciousness of the fictitious events.”
CBC News connected to the Department of National Defence andCanadian Special Operations Command A representative claimed they would certainly not comment as the legal action was on trial. CBC News additionally connected to National Defence Minister Bill Blair, however did not obtain a feedback. Rouleau did not reply to an ask for remark.
Lepage’s legal action suggests that granting compensatory damages would certainly “dissuade and prevent future overreach by the chain of command against Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) soldiers.”
