Fuelling the rumour mill
OTTAWA—It began on social media last week as a series of humorous posts on various platforms. The messages were cryptic without providing details, but they hinted that something was amiss with the command team at the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI).
In the interest of full disclosure, I served in 2nd Battalion PPCLI from 1982 to 1986, and I belong to a number of the regimental chat groups. Hence, my curiosity was indeed piqued when I started to see these posts.
Given the propensity for military members to leak info to the media, and the fact that there is allegedly photographic evidence of an infraction in this case, Department of National Defence public affairs decided to be somewhat proactive. They confirmed to media outlets on June 23 that, indeed, commanding officer Lt.-Col. Jason Hudson and Regimental Sergeant Major, Chief Warrant Officer Kim Doerr, had been relieved of their command positions.
But DND would not say why exactly they had been removed. The official statement from DND spokesperson Andrée-Anne Poulin to the CBC simply read: “An investigation is currently underway under the direction of leadership within [the] 3rd Canadian Division. As this process remains ongoing, it would be inappropriate to comment further." Poulin added, "Canadian Armed Forces members, particularly those in positions of authority, are expected to always demonstrate sound judgment and exemplary conduct to preserve public confidence and maintain the trust of those they lead."
Those last lines from Poulin would seem to support the rumour intelligence being circulated by members of 3PPCLI to media outlets: namely, that the incident in question involved the consumption of alcohol. Given that this case involved the command team of a battalion, one would presume that the internal investigation cited would have been conducted at the brigade level or higher.
As none of the allegations swirling in the rumour mill hinted at anything of an actual criminal nature involving the individuals in question, it was unlikely that this case would result in an investigation by the Military Police.
It was simply a question of higher headquarters losing confidence in the command team's ability to continue in that role. On June 26, DND advised the media that the investigation was complete, and that Hudson and Doerr had been reinstated to command 3PPCLI. No additional details were released regarding the incident in question.
As the CBC's Murray Brewster was quick to point out in his initial story, relieving commanders of their duty is not all that uncommon. This past April, Col. James Smith was removed from command of Canada's forward-deployed battle group in Latvia after being charged under the National Defence Act with one count of prejudice to good order and discipline.
The month prior, Col. Fraser Auld, the commandant at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., was relieved of his post due to Army Commander Lt.-Gen. Michael Wright's “loss of trust in his ability to command” due to an undisclosed personal issue.
In the summer of 2025, Lt.-Col. Ryan Hendy was temporarily removed from his command of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa, and his immediate superior—Col. James McKay, commander of 33 Brigade—resigned from his positioned and retired from the military. The actions came after an Ottawa Citizen report about a Facebook group called the Blue Hackle Mafia, which was made up of members of the Cameron Highlanders. The material on their site was deemed by Wright to be “completely unacceptable” as it included inappropriate photos and behaviour.
In February 2025, Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, then-commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, lost confidence in the ability of Commander Adriano Lozer to lead HMCS Ottawa. Thus, in the middle of Operation Horizon and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Lozer was replaced.
While some pundits may try to sound the alarm bells that this “wave of removals” means there is a crisis in leadership at the unit level across the CAF, I would argue that it means the checks and balances are working.
Loyalty needs to work in both directions, and in cases where leaders have not earned the trust of their personnel, there needs to be accountability.
There was an incident in Kosovo involving the 1st Battalion PPCLI in 1999. Stationed near the Canadians was the detachment of Russian soldiers who had seized and held the airport at Pristina in the final days of NATO's war against Yugoslavia. As a neighbourly gesture, 1PPCLI commanding officer Lt.-Col. Steve Bryan and Major Cliff Reeves proceeded to share a drink with their Russian counterparts. By all accounts, things quickly went south, with the Canadian officers consuming quantities of vodka while watching the Russians bite the heads off of live frogs. Subsequently, the troops of 1PPCLI reported the incident, and both Bryan and Reeves were charged and found guilty.
Under different circumstances, loyal troops might have tried to cover for the two officers. However, in this case, Bryan had earlier issued stern disciplinary measures to the troops under his command for their alcohol consumption.
Lesson learned from that is that the troops will forgive, but they will never forget.
It will be interesting to see if this current case involving 3PPCLI has any surprise twists in store, or whether it simply blows over until the next commander is relieved of their post.
Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine.
The Hill Times