Michel Drapeau

by Covert Mon 27 Dec 2021, 7:43 am

Ottawa lawyer who represents military sex assault victims receives honour from legal association

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Dec 27, 2021

An Ottawa lawyer who has been front and centre representing military personnel who have sexually assaulted and military families battling the defence department has been recognized by the Ontario Bar Association.

Retired colonel Michel Drapeau was selected as a recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service by the association. That honour recognizes exceptional career contributions and achievements by a member of the Ontario Bar Association.

“It came as a surprise and a very pleasant surprise at that,” said the 78-year-old Drapeau. “I didn’t expect it.”

An award ceremony has been postponed because of the pandemic but Drapeau is hopeful that might take place sometime in 2022.

Drapeau is well known in Canada’s defence community for representing military personnel at a variety of court martials and disciplinary hearings, victims of sexual harassment and assault cases, as well as military family members in legal actions against the federal government and Department of National Defence. In addition, he has represented other military families in public interest hearings involving the Canadian Forces.

Drapeau served in the Canadian Forces for 34 years before retiring as a colonel. In his immediate retirement in the mid-1990s, he was instrumental in exposing some of the spending abuses by senior officers and public servants. Among the more controversial was $300,000 spent on remodelling the office of the DND’s deputy minister as well as a private fishing lodge, financed by taxpayers, but for generals and their guests.

In 1996, Drapeau went back to university, obtained a law degree and eventually opened up his practice on Somerset Street.

A number of his clients were victims of sexual assault in the military and were prominently featured in the 1998 and 2014 special reports in Maclean’s magazine’s investigations about such crimes in the Canadian Forces.

Over the years, Drapeau has found time to write a number of textbooks on military law and the access to information law, as well as making presentations about sexual misconduct for committees of the House of Commons as well as the U.S. Congress. In addition, the retired colonel teaches at the University of Ottawa as an adjunct law professor.

Sheila Fynes, who battled the Canadian Forces for years as she tried to get answers about the suicide of her son and the bungled military police investigation into that death, said Drapeau’s award is well deserved. “He’s always the champion of the little guy,” said Fynes, who had Drapeau as her lawyer during the Military Police Complaints Commission hearing into her son’s death. “I think he is just a decent, honourable man. He doesn’t hesitate to help whenever or wherever he can.

“I will be forever grateful to Nicole and Michel and everyone in their office,” she added, referring to Drapeau’s wife Nicole.

But Drapeau has few fans within the leadership of the Canadian Forces and DND. Over the years, dozens of public affairs officers and military lawyers worked behind the scenes to counter Drapeau, according to documents obtained by this newspaper using the Access to Information law.

Drapeau’s appearances in the news media especially irked the senior leadership. For instance, a TV interview with Drapeau in March 2013 prompted a 2,000-word letter to the editor crafted by DND and sent to multiple newspapers across the country.

In September 2015, then-chief of the defence staff Gen. Jon Vance called this newspaper to complain that it had included comments from Drapeau in an article outlining significant flaws in the DND sexual misconduct response centre. In 2018, Col. Jay Janzen, then a top Canadian Forces public affairs officer, tweeted to Global News executives questioning their decision to interview Drapeau for a story about a sexual assault during a military junket. Drapeau had raised questions about the $337,000 VIP trip organized by Vance’s office, dubbed the “party flight” because of the out-of-control alcohol consumption on a military aircraft.

Drapeau said the military’s attempts to try to undercut his efforts are petty but indicative of a system that is still to this day reluctant to change.

“They fought us every step of the way, and continue to do so even today,” Drapeau said. “It’s been tiring. But their pushback keeps me going and fighting.”

Defence Watch

by Scorpion Tue 27 Jun 2023, 5:39 pm

DND accused of ignoring legal requirements under access to information law on release of records

Users say National Defence is refusing to tell those trying to obtain information if and when the material will ever be released.

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen

Published Jun 27, 2023

National Defence has changed the process of responding to access to information requests and is now ignoring legal requirements to notify applicants if and when records will be released, according to documents and complaints from the public.

The changes, the latest blow to the system that is supposed to promote openness and transparency in government, were recently brought in under Defence Minister Anita Anand, access to information users say.

A number of users of the access legislation, including former Canadian Forces members, contacted this newspaper to provide examples of National Defence repeatedly ignoring legal requests for information made through the access law or refusing to tell applicants if and when the material might ever be released. DND says it has not officially changed any of its practices under access laws.

Under the federal access law, members of the public can request government information by paying a $5 fee. That material is supposed to be released within 30 working days unless requesters are officially notified and provided with valid reasons for why more time is needed.

In one email obtained by this newspaper, a National Defence official processing access requests complained to a requester that various sections in the department and within the Canadian Forces had decided to ignore requests.

In a statement to this newspaper, the office of Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard confirmed she raised specific concerns on June 9 about the latest problems to hit access to information processing. Maynard’s office noted that during the meeting the commissioner reminded government departments they are required to follow the law.

“The Commissioner is also very much aware of the issue of systemic delays and institutions not respecting the law,” the statement on behalf of Maynard added. “She has been sounding the alarm for some time on this topic.”

Anand’s press secretary, Daniel Minden, noted that “providing Canadians with access to government records is a cornerstone of transparency and accountability, and a pillar of Canada’s democracy. We recognize that the system needs to perform better.”

The department’s crackdown on releasing information to the public comes at a time when Anand is pushing for billions of dollars more for military spending.

Retired colonel Michel Drapeau, a legal expert on the access to information law, said department and military officials are ignoring the legal requirements because they are keen on controlling or limiting the amount and type of information that becomes available to the public.

“They don’t want a lot of oversight or accountability on how money is being spent or how decisions are being made,” said Drapeau, an Ottawa lawyer who has written a textbook on the access law. “And they face absolutely no consequences for simply ignoring the law of the land.”

Drapeau said Anand should be held accountable for the failure of her department to follow the legislation.

National Defence spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande said there has been no official change in the way the department handles access to information requests. But she added that “we do acknowledge that the volume and scope of requests can sometimes lead to a lack of communication on our part.”

The access law, which was hailed as ground-breaking when it was first enacted in 1983, has slowly been eroded, according to various government reports. In 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power pledging more transparency and criticizing previous Liberal governments for excessive secrecy. But under his government, significant roadblocks were placed in the way of those using the law, according to various studies and accounts from that period.

Justin Trudeau also campaigned on promises of more accountability and transparency but critics say that under his government the access to information law has all but collapsed.

In a report to Parliament earlier this month, Maynard pointed out that “Over the course of my time as commissioner, I have observed the steady decline of the access-to-information system to the point where it no longer serves its intended purpose.”

Maynard began her term as the information watchdog in March 2018.

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