Canada’s former Chief of Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service after pleading guilty recently to one charge of obstruction of justice.
The sentence was delivered by Ontario Justice Robert Wadden during a virtual court appearance in which the former Canadian Armed Forces commander appeared by video.
After hearing arguments from Vance’s lawyer and Crown attorney Mark Holmes on the conditions for a discharge, Wadden said to Vance: “You’ve pled guilty before me to one count of obstruction of justice, And I find you guilty of that offence.”
In addition to community service, Wadden ordered that Vance be put on probation for 12 months and should not contact Maj. Kellie Brennan, with whom he had what a statement of facts filed in court described as a “long-standing intimate relationship.”
The statement of facts says Vance did not disclose the relationship, which exposed him to the possibility of a charge under the National Defence Act, and that he tried to “discourage” her from revealing the nature of their relationship to military investigators.
Vance’s action was described by Wadden as a “serious offence,” particularly as he id Canada’s top military commander for more than five years.
He said: “It is serious because it is breach of trust. It is serious because it impacts all Canadian society to see a commander of your stature behave in this manner. It is serious because it has personal impacts.”
While granting the conditional discharge, the Judge also said that Vance appeared to be “a man of good character” who had helped Canada’s mission in Afghanistan and the Canadian Armed Forces during his career.
Wadden added that he believed Vance was still in a position to help society.
Military police charged Vance with one count of obstruction of justice in July 2021 following one-month investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.
Vance however was not charged with any inappropriate sexual misconduct.
While requesting a discharge, Vance’s lawyer Rodney Sellar argued that his client entered a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity and has already encountered financial and reputational damage.
