EXCLUSIVE: Military Leaders Said Dropping Vaccine Mandate Would Have ‘Weakened’ Forces’ Credibility

Canadian Forces personnel stand easy at CFB Kingston in Kingston, Ont., on March 7, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The day after the federal government announced it would suspend its vaccine mandates in June 2022, military leaders were taking stock of their own related policy, with some saying making a similar announcement would impact the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) “credibility.”

“If we rescind the CDS Directive, the credibility of the institution is weakened, particularly the relationship between the strategic and tactical levels,” read minutes from a Strategic Operations Planning Group (SOPG) meeting on June 15, 2022.

The comments were attributed to the CAF’s Director Military Careers Administration (DMCA). The email containing the minutes had been sent by Colonel Krystle Connerty, a director with the Strategic Joint Staff. The email was obtained through the access to information system.

The “CDS Directive” refers to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination directive issued by Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) General Wayne Eyre in the fall of 2021.

DMCA also reportedly told the planning meeting that its staff was “operating at the front lines” to defend the CDS Directive and was “often receiving complaints and insults, including being accused of ‘war crimes.’”

The day before the CAF meeting, Liberal cabinet ministers had announced on June 14, 2022, the suspension of the vaccine mandate for travel by plan and train, public service employees, and federally regulated workplaces. The CAF had imposed its own mandate, hence the suspension by the federal government had no impact.

The SOPG meeting minutes indicate the DMCA proposed three options on how to deal with the CAF mandate: maintain the status quo; suspend the mandate and maintain the ability to re-implement later on; or to rescind it entirely.

“We shouldn’t rush to failure,” the DMCA reportedly said. “There are many 2nd and 3rd order effects that must be considered.”

The CAF maintained its full vaccine mandate until October 2022, at which point Gen. Eyre issued a new directive, which removed COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment. The vaccination requirement has been kept in place for operational roles to date.

Other records released under the access to information regime indicate the CAF had not conducted an operational impact assessment of its vaccination policy. The Department of National Defence says that 299 regular force members were expelled over vaccination refusal, while 108 others voluntarily left and cited mandatory vaccination as a primary reason for releasing.

The troop loss over the COVID-19 period was, however, significantly higher, with the CAF suffering a net loss of 6,458 soldiers from fiscal year 2020/2021 to 2022/2023.

‘Risk Is Quite Low’

An unidentified individual(s) representing the medical branch of the CAF also provided input on the vaccine mandate during the June 15, 2022, planning meeting.

“Uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine was already high prior to the CDS Directives,” say the minutes. “Since implementation, there has been only a marginal increase in uptake amongst CAF members.”

The Directorate of Force Health Protection (DFHP) provided its assessment of consequences of removing the vaccine mandate. Minutes say the “risk is quite low” given the high uptake, the risk of hospitalization for CAF members “remains low,” and “the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines against transmission wanes over time.”

Other records released through access to information provide data supporting those statements.

CAF troops had a 93 percent vaccination rate in late August 2021, before the implementation of the mandate, according to notes from the CAF surgeon general for a meeting with CDS Gen. Eyre.

A chart on COVID-19 cases from the surgeon general dated June 21, 2022, shows cases exploded in the CAF shortly after the implementation of the vaccine mandate. The Omicron variant had became dominant at the time.

While internal records show the DMCA was concerned about the CAF’s credibility being affected if it removed the mandate, and the DFHP saw no serious health risk of doing so, the CAF has defended the mandates’ rationale.

“The Canadian Armed Forces always bases its decisions on vaccination by considering the most up-to-date medical evidence and advice, the current federal posture, and the need to be operationally ready in terms of both force health and ability to act in an environment where any vaccine-preventable illness is a hazard to individuals and the mission,” spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin said in a previous statement to The Epoch Times.