Canada’s military ombudsman says his office has received fewer than a dozen complaints from members of the military about the Armed Forces’ vaccine requirement and has found no problems with how it’s being enforced. The Canadian Armed Forces have since December required all troops to receive two shots of a recognized COVID-19 vaccine or face disciplinary procedures, including forced removal from the military. While the vast majority of members of the military have bared their arms for firing, more than 1,100 have not. Several hundred of them have since hung up their uniforms, either voluntarily or involuntarily, with more walking out. Despite those numbers and the stakes involved, Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman Gregory Leake says only 10 of the more than 1,800 individual complaints his office has received in the past year are related to the vaccine requirement. Of these, he added, none were found to constitute undue injustice to the affected member of the Armed Forces. “It’s not a huge amount,” he said in an interview. “Particularly when we looked at the individual complaints and found that they were dealt with quite well. … There does not appear to be a systemic issue in the implementation of the policy.” Created in 1998 in the wake of the Somalia scandal, the military ombudsman’s mandate is to assess whether government and military policies affecting Canadian troops are being implemented fairly and equitably. While the ombudsman has previously investigated systemic issues, with a study on access to mental health services for reservists underway, Lick said he has no plans to conduct a similar review of the vaccine requirement. “I’m not a medical expert,” he said. “But I am comfortable with the preponderance of medical research and advice supporting the use of vaccines to protect us from serious (diseases). Therefore, I am comfortable with the policies governing their use in CAF.” Lick said the 10 complaints — and his office’s investigations into them — revolved around individual cases, the majority of which involved troops facing deportation after their medical or religious exemption requests were denied. In each case, he said, investigators found the process to be conducted in a fair manner. “The appropriate rationale was provided in detail,” he said. “What I remember looking at individually was very detailed in terms of the reasoning and why that person couldn’t get an exemption.” However, the Ombudsman urged members of the Armed Forces who feel they have been treated unfairly to lodge a complaint. “If you have individual complaints, forward them, we want to hear them,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 or 100, we treat every person exactly the same.” The military’s vaccine requirement has come under considerable legal and political scrutiny in Canada. Some sitting members unsuccessfully challenged the order in court, while some groups and individuals opposed to vaccine mandates, pandemic lockdowns and the Liberal government have used it as a rallying point for their grievances. Frustration has only grown in some quarters with the refusal of Defense Chief General Wayne Eyre to lift the requirement, even after orders for most other federal civil servants were suspended in June. One of the most high-profile critics has been Warrant Officer James Topp, the army reservist from British Columbia who has been walking across Canada since February to protest the military’s vaccine requirement. Topp was indicted for speaking out against the military mandate while in uniform and has since become a celebrity for some opponents of vaccines and vaccine mandates. He has publicly asked Lick to revise the policy and has encouraged attendees at some of his rallies around the country to write to the warden with a similar request. But the call for action does not appear to have had much success, as the Ombudsman’s office said most of the 10 letters it received were from civilian personnel. Topp said he disagreed with Lick’s reasoning for not taking a closer look at the vaccine requirement, saying he planned to write another letter to the ombudsman raising his concerns. He also said the reason there have not been more formal complaints from members of the Armed Forces is a lack of awareness. “The people I’ve met who have been released, many of them didn’t even realize they had this legal option available to them,” he said, speaking from a roadside stand near Fredericton. “And I expect as we go forward, they’ll get more of that.” As for the lack of letters, Toph joked, “Wow, I guess I should just pack up and go home.” On a more serious note, he said he remained undaunted in trying to draw attention to what he sees as an injustice. “I’m continuing to do what I’m doing and marching to bring this issue to light with the Canadian public,” he said. “If they’re going to write, they’re going to write. That’s the challenge we face here on the ground is to encourage people to get involved.”
