External review found military's COVID-19 vaccine policy violated Charter of Rights

A tribunal that is part of the military grievance process has found that the Canadian Armed Forces' COVID-19 vaccine policy violated its members' Charter rights.

The Military Grievances External Review Committee reviews grievances that are referred to it by the chief of defence staff, and provides the chief with non-binding findings and recommendations.

In all, 157 grievances have been filed with the independent tribunal over the military's vaccination policy, which took effect in the fall of 2021 and remained in place for nearly a year before being updated to apply more narrowly.

Because dozens of similar grievances are being considered at the same time, the committee took the step of releasing three annexes in mid-July that laid out its analysis in order to streamline future cases.

The vaccine policy required Canadian Armed Forces members to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face release.

By the time the requirement ended last October, 299 people had been released and another 108 left on their own.

The initial vaccine mandate in October 2021 came after a similar policy was put in place for the core public administration, including the RCMP and employees of the Department of National Defence.

The chief of the defence staff's first directive stated that 91 per cent of Armed Forces members had already chosen to get the vaccine, and it gave members until November 2021 to declare whether they were fully vaccinated or if they were unwilling or unable to get the shot.

Those who could not get vaccinated were to be accommodated under human-rights legislation, but those who chose not to were warned they could lose promotion, training and deployment opportunities or be released altogether.

Anyone who did not disclose their status or who refused a vaccine could face remedial administrative measures, or they could choose to be released or transferred to the supplemental reserve.

Another directive from December 2021 stated that unvaccinated members could be released under a provision stating that they were unsuitable for service.

Last October, that was updated to say that vaccines are not required for all those serving in uniform, but are instead based on the roles and responsibilities of individual service members.

In an interview with The Canadian Press at the time, Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of the defence staff, said service members are expected to follow legal orders — and that a repeated refusal by some troops to get their shots "raises questions about your suitability to serve in uniform."

"It's dangerous in the military to have legal orders disobeyed," he said. "It's a very slippery slope."