OTTAWA - The Department of National Defence says formal proceedings have been launched against more than 900 members of the Canadian Armed Forces for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Chief of the defence staff Gen. Wayne Eyre ordered all military personnel to attest to having been fully vaccinated by mid-October. The deadline was later extended to mid-December.
Defence Department spokesman Daniel Le Bouthillier says reviews had been launched against 100 Armed Forces members by the end of December for repeatedly refusing to get their jabs.
Another 800 had received warnings, orders to attend counselling and other remedial measures, and could also be forced to hang up their uniforms if they would not get the shot.
Le Bouthillier says 44 full-time members of the Armed Forces have volunteered to leave the military rather than get jabbed, along with an unknown number of part-time reservists.
Last month, the Federal Court dismissed a request from several Armed Forces members to stop the military from forcing them to get vaccinated, the latest in a string of legal defeats for federal government employees fighting vaccine requirements.
