Trudeau says his office didn’t know Vance allegation was a ‘MeToo’ complaint. Conservatives argue emails show otherwise

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This article was published 26/04/2021 (1242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday his office was unaware in 2018 that it was dealing with a “MeToo” complaint against Canada’s then top soldier, but the opposition Conservatives argue that emails show otherwise.

Asked about the handling in 2018 of an allegation against former chief of the defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance, Trudeau told reporters Tuesday that “my office knew that there was a complaint against Gen. Vance. Nobody knew that it was a MeToo complaint.”

The Conservatives countered that emails from 2018 that included Prime Minister’s Office staff used the term “sexual harassment” when discussing the Vance allegation.

“Emails from Trudeau’s department clearly prove that his office was aware of the nature of the allegations against General Vance,” said Conservative defence critic James Bezan in an emailed statement. “Justin Trudeau’s claim that they were not is false.”

It also emerged last week at a parliamentary committee that Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, was kept in the loop on the handling of the allegation against Vance. The opposition has pointed to the revelation as proof that Trudeau himself must have known in 2018 about the allegation, which he denies.

Trudeau described his chief of staff as an “extraordinarily strong leader” on sexual misconduct. “Katie’s leadership on this every step of the way is why we call ourselves a feminist government and why we will continue to look to do more,” he said Tuesday.

Trudeau had confirmed earlier this year that his office — without specifying who — was aware of an allegation in 2018, but that they only learned of the details this year from media reports. Trudeau himself said he only found out this year.

(Global News has reported that it relates to an alleged sexual remark sent in an email by Vance to a junior officer in 2012.)

In question period Tuesday, Opposition Leader Erin O’Toole referred to an email from 2018 involving PMO staff that used the term “sexual harassment” when discussing the Vance allegation.

“The prime minister knows that his own office was using the term sexual harassment with respect to this allegation in 2018,” O’Toole said in the House of Commons. “So it’s embarrassing to suggest that he wasn’t aware it was a MeToo-style complaint.”

Trudeau responded that his office and “my chief of staff specifically have always taken extraordinarily seriously any allegations of personal or professional misconduct, particularly allegations of a sexual nature.”

What is publicly known is that on March 1, 2018, ex-ombudsman Gary Walbourne tried to raise an allegation of misconduct against Vance in a private meeting with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, who refused to look at the evidence, saying that as a politician, he could not get involved in an investigation.

The matter was referred to the Privy Council Office for investigation, where nothing further was done because Walbourne refused to provide the office with any information, as the complainant had not given him permission to do so. The Prime Minister’s Office was kept in the loop about the allegation.

Vance was allowed to remain in the position until his retirement earlier this year, and at one point received a raise signed off by Trudeau. He is now under military police investigation for alleged inappropriate behaviour. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Various witnesses who have appeared before the standing committee on national defence, which is probing the handling of the Vance allegation, have said they didn’t know the details of the allegation against Vance, but that they believed it might have been of a sexual nature.

“I don’t have the language of the emails in front of me. I think the language was ‘potential sexual harassment,’ ” said former clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick before committee.

“There is a back-and-forth of emails between Zita, Janine and Elder. I certainly would say that it was in the realm of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment, but I couldn’t speak to the exact language.”

Wernick was referring to Zita Astravas, Sajjan’s former chief of staff, senior Privy Council official Janine Sherman, and ex-PMO senior adviser Elder Marques.

Sherman testified she was given no information “about the nature of the complaint.”

Marques, who revealed at committee last week that Telford was kept in the loop on the allegation, testified that from his conversations with Astravas, he believes he was told the allegation “dealt with an issue of personal misconduct, and in the context of hearing that, I think my presumption was certainly that it could be of a sexual nature.”

The Conservatives are now trying to add additional hearings at the defence committee in order to call Telford to testify.

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant