Major General Dany Fortin, acquitted of sexual assault charges in December and acquitted by the army in January, is launching a $6 million damages lawsuit against Justin Trudeau, several ministers, the chief of the armed forces and a number of senior officials .
• Also read: Acquitted of Sexual Assault: Major General Dany Fortin acquitted by the Army
In the document filed in Ontario Superior Court on Wednesday, lawyers for Dany Fortin say the defendants’ conduct in the case was “reprehensible, extreme, brazen and authoritarian.”
“This is a clear departure from usual standards of decent behavior. He deserves a full trial and denunciation by this honorable court,” affirmed attorneys for Conway Baxter Wilson.
After a “brilliant” career and solid reputation with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), Dany Fortin has been selected to lead the logistics of vaccine distribution in the country in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
He was promptly dismissed from this position on May 13 of the same year after allegations of sexual assault were raised in public places, in a context in which the CAF was seriously rocked by a series of scandals of a sexual nature involving senior military officers.
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In their lawsuit, the lawyers broadly denounced the “defamatory” nature of the government’s statements at the time, which “damaged” the soldier’s reputation.
Dany Fortin has booked for former Defense Secretary Harjit Sajjan, whose handling of the sexual misconduct file earned him a demotion after the 2021 election.
“The Secretary of Defense made the defamatory statements in bad faith and for an improper purpose, namely to further his personal political career, his personal political goals and the political goals of his government,” alleges one.
In a statement released around 5pm on Friday, the Conway firm said Dany Fortin “regrets that he has been forced to bring a case against the Canadian Armed Forces in the Ontario Supreme Court, an institution to which he serves more than thirty.” years of faithful service.”
“He has sadly concluded that he has no other remedy to right the injustices he suffered during the ordeal described in the statement.”