By Canadian Press

Military officer should have grieved removal as head of vaccine campaign: Government

Sep 28, 2021 | 5:11 PM

OTTAWA — A federal lawyer says if Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin was unhappy with his removal as head of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout campaign, he should have filed a grievance with the military rather than challenge the decision in court.

That was the essence of Justice Department lawyer Elizabeth Richards’s arguments this morning as she asked a Federal Court judge to throw out Fortin’s request to be reinstated to his former job at the Public Health Agency of Canada, or a similar position.

Fortin was abruptly removed in May and later charged with one count of sexual assault, which is being dealt with in Quebec provincial court.

Fortin’s lawyers have alleged the decision to remove him from the vaccine post was unreasonable, lacked procedural fairness and involved Liberal government interference in the military chain of command.

But Richards says those are exactly the types of complaints that the military’s grievance system was created to handle.

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And she says Fortin should have followed that process rather than taking the issue to Federal Court.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2021.

The Canadian Press