Canada's Chief of Defence Staff Walter Natynczyk said Canadian soldiers are "all in shock," and devastated by last week's sensational arrest of Colonel Russell Williams, the suspended former 8 Wing CFB Trenton commander of Canada's largest Air Force base, who was charged on Feb. 7 by the OPP with murdering two young women and sexually assaulting two others in their homes in the middle of the night, but critics say the military must do a more rigorous job of screening military leaders.

Gen. Natynczyk, who last week addressed Canadian soldiers at 8 Wing CFB Trenton on Feb. 10 in an effort to boost morale in the Canadian Forces, said he felt as if he had a "body blow, and I was winded because ... I represent the leadership."

Gen. Natynczyk told reporters last week that an administrative review will try to determine if the military missed signs that Col. Williams may have been unfit for leadership, but also said the military has put additional rigour over the past years into the selection of leadership. He also pointed out that this is not something the leadership of the Canadian Forces has ever faced.

Gen. Natynczyk said military leadership is a "sacred trust."

Said Gen. Natynczyk: "We realize that we have a tempo that's very, very high right now and it relies upon strong leaders who enable the success of their subordinates and so it's a sacred trust and I see that I hold, that I must maintain that trust, not only of all Canadians, but right down to the privates and the young sailors and the young airmen who are deployed and enable their success and they need to have confidence in their leadership so any time, any time you have that kind of violation, of perceived violation of leadership, that's when you know you've had a body blow."

Col. Williams was charged with the murders of Belleville resident Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38, a flight attendant at CFB Trenton, as well as forcible confinement and sexual assault of two other women.

Bloc MP Claude Bachand (Saint Jean, Que.), his party's defence critic, said he has been in contact with people in his riding, home to CFB Bagotville, and said they are having "a hard time."

Said Mr. Bachand: "It's a blow I think, it's a blow for the morale because, of course, people understand that these kinds of people, sometimes it happens, anywhere in the society but when it happens with the military, especially at that high rank, it's a blow for the morale of the troops, because it's very bad news for the Armed Forces and the repercussion of that is all over, not only the officers."

Mr. Bachand said he was planning on visiting the DART team in Trenton, but is going to delay the trip for the time being.

"They have a hard time, when we're facing this kind of problem with any person, any person, any man that is under investigation for this type of behaviour," said Mr. Bachand. "I have a hard time understanding how he can go on, working every day, being admired by everybody and being such a monster so I think the reaction I'm telling you is the reaction in the Armed Forces, it's the reaction of the people, the ordinary people too."

Retired colonel Michel Drapeau, who teaches law at the University of Ottawa and practises law in Ottawa, said because military leadership is trusted with the careers, lives and welfare of young men and women, "when somebody breaches that trust in such a manner, it's devastating."

Said Mr. Drapeau: "It's total devastation, completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the monstrosity, people are just in shock and as you would expect in shock, people are just numb by the pain, by the impact this has upon the entire profession."

Mr. Drapeau described the Armed Forces institution as a "victim," because it did nothing wrong and there's likely nothing it could have done to prevent it. He also said females in uniform are victims and will likely be more cautious, more reserved and less trusting with their male superiors, unfortunately.

NDP Defence critic Jack Harris (St. John's East, Nfld.) said there is still much to come out, adding that it's too early to know whether the existing procedures were adequate, or not, what evaluations actually did or did not take place and whether the screening process overlooked disciplinary records or a troubling history.

"We want to see a careful review done of the record to see if there were any red flags that were ignored, but you can't pass judgment yet without knowing what the full facts are," said Mr. Harris.

Mr. Drapeau said there may have been nothing that could have ever been done to prevent or screen this individual who has still not been found guilty in a court of law, but also said there has to be a re-evaluation of the selection process in order to restore trust in the military leadership.

"It's going to take a while before a situation returns to what it was before and maybe it will never return to that situation," said Mr. Drapeau. "It may get better and may be different, but most certainly, and not now, in the weeks and months ahead, there will be a re-evaluation as to how do we do this? How do we select people for command? Maybe there will be no change but there will certainly be a re-evaluation and is there something we couldn't do better? Shouldn't we be more intrusive in the personal life of the individual? Should we have better mechanisms that would shed a light? And maybe the conclusion would be no."

The current system to promote someone in the Armed Forces relies on the superiors' evaluations based on performance. Mr. Drapeau said there should be an external review of appointments and not just a "rubber stamp" by the minister who gets names of people he doesn't know and approves them.

cmunster@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times