(Ottawa) The complainant in the trial of Major-General Dany Fortin, accused of sexual assault, told her version of the facts on Monday at the Gatineau courthouse.
Updated yesterday at 6:08 p.m.
Questioned by the Crown at the opening of the trial before judge alone, the complainant first clarified that she and Mr. Fortin were both attending the Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu military college at the time of the alleged assault. , which allegedly took place between January and April 1988.
The name and details that could identify the complainant are subject to a publication ban. On the first of two days of hearings, she told Crown prosecutor Diane Legault in English that she was then living in a barracks with a roommate and that there was a rule that their door must always remain unlocked.
The complainant recounted that she woke up shortly after midnight one evening and felt that someone had taken her hand and was using it to masturbate. She felt another hand on her breasts, under the sheets.
She told the court that she was lying on her side and froze in panic and bewilderment upon realizing the position she was in. Before doing anything else, she said, she opened one eye and recognized Dany Fortin hunched over her.
After letting him know she was awake, changing her position and moving away from him, she said she started pushing him away and whispered, “Let go of me.” Thinking of her roommate further down the bedroom, she also whispered her name, trying to get the woman’s attention. She said that after a brief struggle, the accused backed up, pulled up his pants and walked away.
When asked why she hadn’t shouted, the Complainant sighed and took a long pause, before remarking that this was a very embarrassing situation. She knew that “this kind of thing had happened to others” in college and she was well aware of the “impacts it can have when it is denounced”.
“I was horrified. I didn’t want someone to come up and find me in this position – when someone does this to me, puts me down like this,” she said, describing her psychological state at the time. “I was hoping, with (my roommate) there, and telling him to stop, that that, in itself, the fear, would be enough for him to leave me alone. »
A system to protect it
She told the court that after Mr. Fortin left, she came to her senses, got dressed and went to see her boyfriend, who lived in a different barracks, to tell him what had happened to him – who assaulted her.
She only filed a formal complaint after the Canadian Armed Forces launched “Operation Honour”. The initiative, since superseded, aimed to address what former Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps described in a 2015 report as an “endemic culture of sexual misconduct” and “sexualization” within the military. .
The complainant testified that in 2017 or 2018, she had met Mr. Fortin again, who then acted as if nothing had ever happened between them. “I couldn’t take it,” she said, adding that there was now a system in place that was “finally supposed to protect her.”
She indicated on Monday that she had filed a complaint with her chain of command in 2021. “After 34 years, I was not to be ashamed and embarrassed for something that was not my fault. »
The complainant told the court that she was “100%” certain of the identity of her attacker. Mr. Fortin’s attorney, Isabel Schurman, said the defense would vigorously contest that identification.
During his cross-examination, Mr.e Schurman pointed to inconsistencies between the complainant’s recollections and what she had previously told authorities. The defense thus confronted her on Monday on the year of the alleged assault, whether it had occurred before or after midnight, whether she had recognized Mr. Fortin by his voice or whether his roommate was present that night.
The complainant explained in particular on Monday that she was “very stressed” when filing her complaint with the authorities.
Major-General Fortin has always maintained his innocence. His attorney said Monday they will vigorously challenge the complainant’s testimony that he assaulted her. In the courtroom, Mr. Fortin, dressed in his military uniform, watched the complainant as she testified, sometimes looking down at her hands.
Cross-examination of the alleged victim is scheduled to continue Tuesday morning.
Vaccination campaign
This trial, presided over by Judge Richard Meredith of the Court of Quebec, begins more than a year after Major-General Fortin was removed from his position as a major official of the national vaccination campaign against COVID. -19, in May 2021, following an unspecified “military investigation” at the time.
The file had been referred to the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions of Quebec later that month; in August 2021, Mr. Fortin was formally charged with one count of sexual assault.
He is also challenging in Federal Court the way he was removed from his position as head of the vaccination campaign. As part of this procedure, he notably accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other senior government officials of having dismissed him for purely political reasons.
The Federal Court rejected his request for reinstatement last year, but Mr. Fortin is appealing this decision. His motion is due to be heard early next month.