OTTAWA — Two Canadian Forces members were listed on the National Sex Offender Registry, as of this spring, the Chief of the Defence Staff, has confirmed.
“As of 11 May 2011, two Canadian Forces members were known to be subject to a SOIRA (Sex Offender Information Registration Act) order,” Gen. Walter Natynczyk said in a letter to Defence Minister Peter MacKay that was tabled in Parliament this week.
Gen. Natynczyk said he has the power to temporarily exempt CF members from certain sex offender registry obligations, but noted he has never done so.
Although a top government official told Huffington Post Canada the two members are still serving, Capt. Scott Costen, a Department of National Defence spokesman cautioned that administrative reviews, which are are launched after court martials or civilian criminal proceedings call into question the suitability of a member's continued service, may be underway to release individuals from their military positions.
“Canadian Forces members are held to the highest levels of personal and professional conduct. Unfortunately as in civilian society a relatively small member of Canadian Forces members may be prone to engage in criminal sexual behaviour,” Capt. Costen said.
In January 2010, Corporal Timothy LeBlanc, a soldier who had been twice deployed to Afghanistan, was found guilty of sexual assault, sentenced to 20 months imprisonment and placed on the National Sex Offender Registry by a court martial.
LeBlanc was found to have sexually assaulted another CF member in her room in the single quarters at CFB Edmonton — a woman who had helped LeBlanc take care of his injured hand earlier that day.
UPDATE: Leblanc was acquitted in 2012 at a second trial, Maclean's reports.
The Department of National Defence was unable to confirm whether LeBlanc was one of the soldiers mentioned by the Chief of Defence Staff.
Citing privacy reasons, the department would not say whether the two members are still employed by the Forces and if so, where they currently work.
The National Sex Offender Registry was established in 2004 and is designed to help police investigate crimes of a sexual nature by forcing convicted sex offenders to make their whereabouts known.
Individuals on the sex offender registry may have been found guilty of offenses such as: sexual interference, sexual exploitation, incest, bestiality, child pornography and sexual assault.