GATINEAU, Que. — Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin is being cross-examined this morning in the sexual assault trial against him and closing arguments in the case are expected later today.
Final questions for the former head of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign are focusing largely on his public profile in the lead-up to his May 2021 dismissal and on his memories of the military college he attended.
It’s in one of the St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., college dorm rooms that a woman said she was assaulted in 1988.
The complainant, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, told a courtroom last month that she woke up one night to find a man was masturbating himself with one of her hands, and she recognized the attacker as Fortin “without a doubt.”
Fortin has denied any guilt in the case, saying he never had physical contact with the woman or entered her room.
He was removed from the vaccine campaign after an investigation into the allegation was launched last year, and he is challenging the removal separately in Federal Court.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 24, 2022.
The Canadian Press
