..
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin expects to face one count of sexual assault;
arrest warrant issued in Ottawa
Fortin was a commander during the Afghan war and in 2018 was selected to head
the NATO mission in Iraq
David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Aug 18, 2021
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, Vice-President of Logistics and Operations at the Public Health Agency of Canada, participates in a news conference on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ottawa, on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2020.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN TANG /The Canadian Press
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, who became familiar to Canadians for his key job in the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, has been informed he is facing one count of sexual assault.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Fortin. The senior military officer will present himself at the Gatineau police station on Wednesday morning, this newspaper has confirmed. His lawyers expect the charge to be laid at that time.
Fortin’s legal team believes the one charge of sexual assault will be for an alleged incident that happened “between Jan. 1 and April 30th,1988.” They will not be totally certain of that until the actual charge is laid.
It is expected that Fortin will be released on a promise to appear in court at a later date. The major general will make a statement to the news media on Wednesday.
Fortin has denied any wrongdoing.
The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service announced on May 19 that they had conducted an investigation into an allegation about Fortin and had referred the matter to Quebec’s prosecution service.
Fortin left his assignment with the Public Health Agency of Canada on May 14, the same day the Canadian Forces issued a statement that he was under investigation.
He has challenged the federal government’s decision to end his secondment to the vaccine task force. In an affidavit sworn on July 13, Fortin said the government’s decision to remove him from the job and announce that there was an investigation had been devastating to his reputation and career.
His lawyers argue the process was unfair and was done for political purposes. “The decision was arbitrary, not in the public interest and made solely for the personal and political gain of the Ministers of Health and National Defence and the Prime Minister,” Fortin’s legal team noted in previously filed court documents.
Fortin is requesting he return to his previous job or another position befitting his rank.
The court documents noted that Fortin was told April 19 by the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service that it was looking into one allegation of sexual misconduct made against him. The alleged incident was reported to have taken place more than 30 years ago.
Fortin had served as the Public Health Agency of Canada’s vice-president of logistics and operations since Nov. 27, leading the federal government’s vaccine roll-out.
The May announcement saw Fortin joining a group of generals and other senior officers who have either come under investigation or who have had to step down from their positions in the past several months.
Chief of the Defence Staff Adm. Art McDonald voluntary stepped aside Feb. 24 from that job after being put under military police investigation. The CFNIS did not find evidence to support the misconduct allegation and McDonald’s lawyers announced earlier this month that he was returning to the job of CDS even though the Liberal government noted it was still reviewing his case. McDonald is still on leave.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan recently announced that acting defence chief Wayne Eyre had been promoted to general and would stay in the top military job for now.
McDonald’s predecessor, Gen. Jon Vance, was also placed under military police investigations because of allegations of sexual misconduct. He has been charged with one count of obstruction of justice. Vance denies any wrongdoing.
Vice Adm. Haydn Edmundson left his position as head of military personnel after being accused of sexual assault of a subordinate. The incident, reported to have taken place in 1991, is under military police investigation. Edmundson has denied any wrongdoing.
Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe has been put on paid vacation until his future can be sorted out. Dawe has come under fire after it was revealed that in 2017 he wrote a letter of support for a sex offender who assaulted a fellow soldier’s wife. Dawe admitted he wrote the letter in an attempt to get the sex offender, a fellow officer, a reduced sentence. That letter was cited by the judge in the decision to give the sex offender probation. The same soldier was later sentenced to three years in jail on an unrelated sexual assault.
Fortin had previously earned praise from the Liberal government and fellow officers.
Minister of Health Patty Hajdu said Fortin’s “proven leadership and unique experience are strong assets to the government’s planning efforts” for the vaccine roll-out.
In November, when Fortin was named as lead for the federal government initiative, retired general Rick Hillier lauded the appointment. “He is the most incredible leader,” said Hillier, who at the time was leading Ontario’s vaccine roll-out. “I could not praise him enough. We’re blessed as a nation to have him.”
Fortin was a commander during the Afghan war and in 2018 was selected to head the NATO mission in Iraq.
Well deserved action against Cuomo, but I'm disappointed that it took the cancel culture route of re-writing history rather than stating the truth, that the Academy was colossally stupid for having given him the Emmy in the first place.
Disgraced ex-governor of New York Cuomo stripped of Emmy
& erased from award history
24 Aug, 2021 18:45
A TV screen in Times Square shows the farewell speech by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Aug 23, 2021.
© REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
The 2020 International Emmy given to Andrew Cuomo for his Covid-19 briefings was apparently only good while the Democrat served as governor of New York. Less than a day after his resignation went into effect, it was revoked.
On Tuesday, the New York-based International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced that “in light of the New York Attorney General’s report, and Andrew Cuomo’s subsequent resignation as Governor, it is rescinding his special 2020 International Emmy Award.”
“His name and any reference to his receiving the award will be eliminated from International Academy materials going forward,” they added.
Like it never happened. What a farce!
However, the report referenced in the statement was released on August 3, and Cuomo announced his resignation a week later. It went into effect on Monday. Democrat Kathy Hochul was sworn in as his replacement just after midnight on Tuesday. While the International Academy didn’t elaborate any further on its actions, they apparently waited until Cuomo was no longer governor to revoke his award and purge him from their history.
Back in November 2020, they were singing another tune, giving Cuomo a Founders Award “for effective communication and leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic” and “his masterful use of TV to inform and calm people around the world.”
Cuomo’s daily briefings “worked so well because he effectively created television shows, with characters, plot lines, and stories of success and failure,” Bruce Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy, said at the time. “People around the world tuned in to find out what was going on, and ‘New York tough’ became a symbol of the determination to fight back.”
The award put Cuomo in the company of TV legends such as J.J. Abrams, Norman Lear, Steven Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey – and angered critics who protested that his state had one of the worst death tolls, including the vulnerable elderly in nursing homes that he ordered to accept Covid-19 patients. US President Joe Biden’s administration abandoned the investigation into that particular scandal in July.
Democrat privilege!
The International Academy, which handed out – and has now rescinded – the award, is itself based in New York. Cuomo had governed the state for ten years, and previously held the job of the state attorney general. His father Mario had been governor for three terms as well.
Baby from famous image on Nirvana’s hit album ‘Nevermind’
sues band for profiting from ‘sex trafficking venture’ & child porn
25 Aug, 2021 10:04
The man who was pictured naked as a baby on the cover of Nirvana’s iconic ‘Nevermind’ album is suing the late Kurt Cobain’s estate, the surviving band members and others – alleging child pornography and sexual exploitation.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Spencer Elden, 30, claims his parents had not signed a release authorizing the grunge-rock group to use the famous photograph – in which a four-month-old infant was pictured reaching for a dollar bill attached to a fishing hook in a swimming pool.
Elden is seeking $150,000 from each of the suit’s 15 listed defendants – including photographer Kirk Weddle, musician and Cobain estate executor Courtney Love, various record companies, art directors – for unspecified damages to be determined at a trial.
The suit claimed Elden’s “identity and legal name are forever tied” to the “commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor,” which has been distributed worldwide since the 1991 album’s commercial success. As a result, he apparently “suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages.”
According to the lawsuit, the photo was supposedly chosen by Cobain and is meant to suggest a “sex worker grabbing for a dollar bill.” The filing described the photo as a “sex trafficking venture” in which Elden “was forced to engage in commercial sexual acts while under the age of 18 years old.”
The suit alleged that after receiving “pushback” in relation to the use of the photo, Cobain agreed to partially censor the image “with a sticker strategically placed over Spencer’s genitals” that would include the text “If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile” on it.
To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, Weddle activated Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer’s exposed genitals.
According to the suit, the defendants used “child pornography depicting Spencer” as an “essential element of a record promotion scheme” commonly used in the music industry to get attention. In this alleged scheme, “album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews.”
It also claims that – despite having “knowingly produced, possessed, and advertised commercial child pornography” depicting Elden and having “knowingly received value in exchange for doing so” – the defendants “failed to take reasonable steps to protect Spencer and prevent his widespread sexual exploitation and image trafficking.”
Although Elden has recreated the photo a number of times over the years, he has expressed frustration at not being compensated for his likeness. In a 2016 profile by Time magazine, Elden said he had tried to take legal action against the record label, Geffen Records, before but was “unsuccessful.”
Since its release, ‘Nevermind’ has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. After it was certified platinum, Geffen Records apparently sent Elden a platinum plaque and a teddy bear as thanks.
“It’s hard not to get upset when you hear how much money was involved,” Elden told Time, adding, “It’s a trip. Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I’m the last little bit of grunge rock. I’m living in my mom’s house and driving a Honda Civic.”
‘Maybe they’re just gay’: Simon Callow condemns ‘tyrannical’ approach
taken by LGBTQ+ rights group on gender identification
25 Aug, 2021 09:40
Simon Callow (FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Michele Tantussi
Legendary British actor & gay rights activist Simon Callow has laid into the Stonewall LGBTQ+ pressure group, condemning their “dangerously prescriptive approach” on gender identity, adding it impinges on hard-won women’s rights.
In an interview published in the Times on Wednesday, Simon Callow, perhaps best known for playing Gareth in Four Weddings and a Funeral, became the latest public figure to speak out against the assertive positioning of LGBTQ+ pressure groups on gender identification.
Callow, a veteran gay rights campaigner who took part in the anti-government demonstrations that led to founding the Stonewall group in 1989, expressed his concern about the group’s direction, claiming an “extraordinarily unproductive militancy” now surrounded its position. He added that he was concerned by the reaction his views may engender in this era of mass cancelling.
The Stonewall group – named after a 1969 police raid on the gay Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village – has fiercely campaigned for LGBTQ+ rights and self-identification for transgender people.
Callow, echoing the recently shared views of Stonewall founder Simon Fanshawe, contended that the group’s position is dangerously impinging on women’s rights. When it threatens hard-fought women’s rights and “the right to have exclusive spaces for women, away from any threat at all – I think that’s a very serious issue,” he argued.
The actor was equally concerned by Stonewall’s position on gender identification, an issue which has been repeatedly discussed, particularly following outbursts by popular figures such as author J.K. Rowling.
Callow deemed that transitioning gender was particularly complex and the LGBTQ+ group’s position may lure people to transition when they don’t need to. “The most dangerous thing is that it may well be that they are just gay, and they are being somehow lured into thinking that they are obviously in the wrong gender.”
Callow labelled Stonewall’s position as a “very strange turn to the tyrannical” and condemned their “dangerously prescriptive approach.”
The actor’s comments have been well received on social media, with many praising Callow for speaking out “against the delusional ones in society.” Others contended it takes a huge amount of courage to speak publicly on such controversial issues these days: “By all means let those who disagree have their say but, please, do NOT cancel him out like some Stasi operative.”
Some claimed they were glad it wasn’t just “hysterical women” who were condemning the calls for gender self-identification and transgender access to women’s safe spaces. “If people won’t listen to women, maybe they’ll listen to a gay man?” another chimed in.
I don't think you can call JK Rowling a hysterical woman.
One thanked Callow for “questioning the misogyny of Stonewall” while another said they hoped this would be “a watershed moment for those who have remained fearfully silent.”
However, there were a few dissenting voices who weren’t happy with Callow’s decision to condemn Stonewall. “It's a hell no to Simon Callow and to anyone else who expresses anti-trans views,” one LGBT+ campaigner wrote. Another said he wasn’t surprised, claiming it is “water is wet news.”
Callow’s interview in the Times comes a day after British comedy legend John Cleese announced an upcoming new show, entitled “John Cleese: Cancel Me.” The outspoken critic of contemporary societal movements will explore the “various reasonings” behind the cancel culture and speak to celebrities who have been ‘cancelled’.
Is Callow lobbying to be Cleese's first guest? Even so, I completely agree with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment