Military Did Not Assess Operational Impact of Kicking Out Unvaccinated Troops: Records

The Canadian military never evaluated how operational readiness would be affected by the expulsion of soldiers refusing COVID-19 vaccination before imposing its mandate, internal records indicate. “The CAF did not conduct a pre-policy risk analysis since CDS, based on solid medical advice, decided to accept any impacts this policy would/could have brought to bear,” wrote then-Brigadier-General Erick Simoneau in a May 2022 email. Simoneau, now a major-general, was responding to queries from the Military Grievances External Review Committee (MGERC), an administrative tribunal that issues non-binding recommendations to the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS). MGERC had begun in early 2022 to process grievances from soldiers who disputed the constitutionality of the CAF vaccine mandate, which had come into force in October 2021. The Committee was asking CAF leadership for its rationale for its treatment of members who were refusing vaccination....