An internal report blames a lack of communication for a debacle on a Canadian Armed Forces base last fall, when masked men taking part in active-shooter drill fired blanks at civil servants who didn't know it was a training exercise.
During the drill, which took place on Nov. 12 at a service depot at CFB Longue-Pointe in Montreal, military police also confused a racialized employee with a drill participant playing an active shooter and wrestled him to the ground.
An internal report from the local garrison depot commander, obtained by The Canadian Press, says the incident resulted in two workplace injuries, multiple reports of near accidents, “frustration and anger” among local employees and a “strained relationship between management and the union executive.”
The report, authored by Col. Robin Chenard, says the employees had “never been exposed to a scenario of this magnitude” and blames the result on poor communications, planning and training.
"The training package, which consisted of a PowerPoint presentation and video, did not adequately prepare employees for an active shooter exercise of this nature," it said.
The report also says the depot was “at no time” informed of the exact date and location of the exercise, and that “most of the coordination was done by email, in many instances using a wrong/outdated distribution list.”
An employee at the facility who was present during the incident — who The Canadian Press is not naming because they fear reprisal from their superiors for speaking out publicly — said they worried the incident was going to be swept under the rug.
The employee said they want to opt out of any future exercises like this, adding it seemed as if no one was in charge of the operation and it devolved into "total chaos.''
June Winger, national president of the Union of National Defence Employees, said many in the facility don’t work with computers and came into work after the long weekend having missed the memo about the drill that went out on the Friday before.
“Employees who weren’t aware that it was an exercise were in hiding and fearful for their lives, horrified, thinking they were witnessing the murder of their colleagues,” she said. “It’s unbelievable.”
Winger said a racialized person was physically assaulted and dragged throughout the workshop and “really, really extensively traumatized.”
“They tore his overalls and they pulled out his wallet, went through his personal papers in his wallet, spread it out on the floor," she said. "They ripped his clothes, had him remove his work boots and then they dragged him outside … and then told him that he had to sit outside in the winter — no shoes on, no coat.”
Winger said the union had protested the event and even tried to shut it down ahead of time.
The exercise, called Bastion Verrouillé, is an annual emergency preparedness exercise meant to train soldiers to respond to an attacker with a firearm.
Unlike previous versions of the exercise, this one involved soldiers firing blanks.
The report says that “unlike the rehearsal, the exercise began without audible alarms” and employed blank rounds, representing a “significant increase in the scale and scope of the exercise from previous years without a commensurate increase in coordination, communication or training.”
The 23-page report summarizes an investigation launched on Nov. 25 into how the drill was organized at the 202 Workshop Depot (202WD), a military vehicle and equipment repair facility.
It's one of three separate probes ordered following the incident. The 2nd Canadian Division, which organized the exercise, and the Canadian Forces Military Police Group also launched investigations.
“The misidentification of a civilian employee as the active shooter by the police was not attributable to any actions or inactions on the part of 202WD,” says the report.
Stéphane Goulet, president of the union local, said the man who was dragged to the ground and arrested “had really been tossed around” and “mistreated” and had to go on sick leave, while another employee who was present for the drill remains on sick leave.
He said a handful of other employees had to take time off afterward to see a doctor because they were suffering from panic attacks.
The report says the drill resulted in a Canada Labour Code complaint and a complaint to the Military Police Complaints Commission.
A document prepared for Defence Minister Bill Blair last year called it an “unfortunate occurrence” and said the government needs to “safeguard against anything like this happening again.”
Gwendolyn Culver, issues management director for Blair, said in an email response that the office recognizes the "seriousness of the incident" and apologizes "for the negative repercussions this person has suffered."
Gen. Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staff, said in an interview last month that the CAF will include the feedback from the investigation into planning for the next such drill, to “make sure that we don't have the same mistakes” again.
“Those scenarios are run to make sure that our folks are ready to intervene if something happens," she said.
