Dunne refused to give up fight

Military needs to apologize, learn from case, legal expert says

EDITOR’S NOTE:

A promising military career poisoned by lies, incompetence and baseless suspicions he was the dupe of a Russian spy. Tim Dunne’s story is a tale of military justice gone off the rails. Part 6 of 6.

About a year and a half ago, retired major Tim Dunne reached out to a friend who had dropped out of sight. His buddy was a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War who’d come home with a lot of issues.

“I called him to see how he was doing and check on his morale and such, as friends will do. And that’s when he said that, one night, he just made a phone call to Veterans Affairs,” Dunne said.

“And, out of the blue, he said, ‘And so should you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘You need to talk to them.’ And as he started talking to me, I began to realize, yeah, maybe I do have a problem.”

Dunne’s insomnia had become worse than ever. He’d occasionally stay up to five in the morning. Sometimes, he wouldn’t go to bed at all.

Early one morning a few weeks after talking with his buddy, Dunne picked up the phone and called the Veterans Affairs 24-hour helpline.

It was 2:30 a.m.

“The lady I was speaking with said, ‘Have you had any episodes of self harm?’ Dunne recalls. “And I choked up. I couldn’t answer the question for about two or three minutes. Words would not come out.”

COUNSELLING BEGINS

That call led to Dunne getting counselling for about a year from Brian Duggan, a registered Nova Scotia counselling therapist. Dunne said it helped him to legitimize his feelings.

“I knew I wasn’t wrong. I just thought I might have been overreacting to it,” Dunne said, referring to the injustice dealt to him by the military justice system.

But “this was a violation. And the violation itself was traumatic.”

Duggan can’t talk specifically about his work with Dunne.

But what Duggan can say is that, speaking generally, the common values and sense of belonging found in hierarchies like the military help build a foundation of psychological safety for an individual.

But that same environment can become psychologically unsafe if something happens to destroy that idea, Duggan said.

For example, he said, a longterm, open-ended military police investigation in which an individual feels unjustly treated, and where there seems no accountability.

Rosemary, Dunne’s wife, saw the psychological damage to her husband first-hand.

“It just went on and on and on and on. I don’t know how he got through,” she said.

“He’s a moral guy. Tim will never tell a lie,” she said. “So he found this really hard. It was hard to watch. It just seemed so unfair, so ridiculously unfair.”

HIGH CHARACTER

Dunne’s former lawyer, Ray Riddell, speaks highly of his former client’s character.

“He is honest. He’s forthright. He’s tenacious. And he believes in justice,” said Riddell. “He knows the difference between right and wrong.

“And he’s not afraid to stand up for himself. He’s very courageous. Because a lot of people wouldn’t have done this, wouldn’t have taken on this empire. And that’s what it is. It’s a real empire that’s closed ranks.”

Lawyer Michel Drapeau, one of Canada’s top experts on military law, believes the military justice system needs an overhaul, starting at the top.

The judge advocate general is neither judge nor advocate, Drapeau said. They’re a legal adviser to the minister of defence and responsible for overseeing the military justice system.

The JAG and their staff have immense power, Drapeau said. They must ensure it’s not abused.

The military law expert says he’s glad what happened to Dunne at the hands of the military justice system is now being exposed.

“It shows a failure of leadership at the highest level, because he’s been on a general quest for justice for a long time,” Drapeau said.

“If this happened to Dunne, did it not happen to other individuals? The answer to that could be yes.”

The fact Dunne relentlessly pursued clearing his name, and documented in detail what happened, means we can all learn from his experience, Drapeau said.

“Otherwise, it would be swept under the carpet.”

A CALL TO EXAMINE DUNNE’S CASE

Dunne’s case should be examined by the standing parliamentary committee on national defence, the Ottawabased lawyer said.

Drapeau would like to see a formal finding that Dunne was a victim of “gross injustice and unlawful interference with his career, which had an impact, certainly, on his health and probably his reputation at the same time.

“I think it should be done at the ministerial level.”

Dunne deserves compensation and an apology, given directly by a high-ranking senior officer, and in the presence of Dunne’s family, flown to Ottawa at military expense, Drapeau said.

The retired major should also be promoted to the position he should have achieved had this not occurred, Drapeau added.

That would send a message to Dunne’s contemporaries, signalling — from a ministerial perspective — that DND acted badly and they don’t want to see something like this ever again.

The military can make this right, if they have the will to do so, he said.

“If we’re able to make it right for him, we’re making it better for those who may follow the same fate,” said Drapeau.

Dunne himself hopes that publicizing his case will add to growing pressure for meaningful reform of the military.

He points to the many senior officers being investigated for sexual misdeeds, which last fall spawned an independent external review by former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour into sexual misconduct and sexual harassment in DND and the Canadian Armed Forces.

He also points to last year’s appointment of Lt.-gen. Jennie Carignan to lead overall culture change efforts in the military.

“It’s time JAG were told to open the books and deal with these issues.”

‘THEY HAVE NO EMPATHY’

Dunne has published commentary and analysis on the military justice system for more than a decade. His articles can be found at duncom. ca.

He now believes the entire system should be abolished.

Military disciplinary investigations can put people into deep depression and cause, at least, attempts at suicide, Dunne said, citing from a 2010 report, Suicide in the Canadian Forces, written by the Canadian Forces expert panel on suicide prevention for the surgeon general.

During his fight with the system, Dunne said no one seemed to care about the effect on him.

“They have no empathy, sympathy or concern for the impact on the individual. I, on the other hand, having gone through it, have a huge understanding, a huge concern, for how this affects people.”

The proud ex-military man’s fight has come at a tremendous personal price.

“I should be enjoying my retirement and doing things like fishing and golf instead of fighting the military justice institution,” Dunne said, surrounded by stacks of documents he’s collected in the decades he’s battled to clear his name.

But as a self-described stubborn Irish Newfoundlander, he refused to give up.

“Having committed to the fight, I will not stand down until I have reached its conclusion, or I die.”