Sexual assault investigation of army officer flawed by ‘tunnel vision’: watchdog

OTTAWA — A military justice watchdog says an investigation of a sexual assault claim against former army officer Dany Fortin was “compromised” by “tunnel vision,” bias and a lack of oversight.

On Tuesday, the Military Police Complaints Commission released its final report on the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service’s probe of a sexual assault allegation dating back to 1988, when Fortin was at military college.

In a news release, the commission says the evidence doesn’t support Fortin’s claim that his prosecution was driven by “undue external pressure to uncritically accept the alleged victim’s allegations at face value.”

But commission chairperson Tammy Tremblay does conclude military investigators’ handling of Fortin’s case showed signs of “investigative bias, inadequate supervisory oversight, and a failure to uphold core investigative standards.”

“These shortcomings are not mere administrative oversights; they represent significant failures that erode public trust in military policing,” Tremblay wrote in the commission’s report.

The report says that, “based on the evidence, the investigators appear to have relied primarily on (the alleged victim’s) account, and did not explore other sources of information.

“The lack of proper documentation in the police investigation file also prevented senior managers from detecting and/or preventing the possibility of tunnel vision.”

While the commission found the investigation was deeply flawed, it says it can’t conclude that those flaws would have changed investigators’ decision to refer Fortin’s case to a prosecutor.

“In Quebec, police investigate and refer, while prosecutors independently assess the evidence and decide whether charges should be laid,” the commission says in a news release.

“In this case, it was found that the investigators acted within the justice framework, and the final charging decision rested with the prosecutor, who had access to all the evidence, including its weaknesses.”

Fortin, who had reached the rank of major-general, was removed as head of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout campaign in May 2021 while he was under investigation.

Fortin was acquitted in December 2022 on one count of sexual assault in a civilian court and retired in 2023 after settling a lawsuit against the military and top government officials for an undisclosed sum.

The commission’s report calls for changes to military police practices. It says all investigative interviews should be recorded, investigators should be “properly trained” on unconscious bias and tunnel vision, and supervision and oversight of investigators should be improved.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2025.