Retired gen. Jonathan Vance, Canada’s former chief of the defence staff, has been expelled from the Royal Military College of Canada Alumni Association.
The decision was reached by the Board of Directors of the RMC Alumni Association, following meetings on April 2nd and April 7th to discuss the implications of Vance pleading guilty to Obstruction of Justice on March 30th.
As a result of the plea, Vance was ordered to 80 hours of community service. Additionally, the judge ordered Vance to refrain from contacting Maj. Kellie Brennan, which in court was described as a “long-standing intimate relationship,” starting in 2001 and extending until early 2021.
Ultimately, the RMC Alumni Association found that Retired gen. Vance’s actions were detrimental to the organization.
“In reaching its decision, the Board considered, among other things, the detrimental impact of Gen. Vance’s actions not only on the Canadian Armed Forces, the Canadian Military Colleges, the Alumni Community and the Association but on all Canadians. The Association’s motto of Truth, Duty, Valour featured prominently in the decision,” wrote the RMC Alumni Association in a release to membership.
Gen. Vance was entitled to make written submissions to the Association in response to the notice sent to him advising him of his membership expulsion. Gen. Vance did not provide any such written submission by the deadline and as a result his expulsion from membership took effect on 2 May 22.
On May 7th, the Government requested that Retired General Vance also be stripped of the Order of Military Merit, one of the highest military honours in Canada. The Governor General approved the request.
