# 2017-107 Careers, Course Failure

Case summary

F&R Date: 2017-12-04

The Committee had to determine if the grievor should have been nominated for further training after failing a course and being recommended for release.

The initial Authority was supportive of the Commanding Officer's original intent to issue a Notice of Intent for release and did not believe sending the grievor on course was appropriate.

The Committee found that the progress review procedures in the course Training Plan and Canadian Army Order 24-08 were not followed. Absent these prescribed progressive measures, the grievor should have remained on the course. The Committee also found that the grievor's release was by no means definite or imminent and recommended that the grievor be given the opportunity to complete the course as soon as possible.

FA decision summary

Of note, the Committee issued two F&R reports and the Final Authority (FA) responded in one decision for files 2017-107 and 2018-023. The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), as Final Authority, partially agreed with the Committee's recommendations to partially uphold the grievances. The CDS found that the issue of the notice of intent (NOI) for release was moot given that the NOI was purged from the grievor's file and that the second one was put in abeyance pending Canadian Forces National Investigation Service investigations. The CDS agreed with the Committee that addressing issues pertaining to the NOI would be premature at this time and directed that the grievance related to the NOI be closed. He noted that the grievor would have the right to grieve the NOI, if issued in the future. The CDS noted that an Harassment investigation started in 2016 was still under review. Regarding the Basic Military Officer Qualification (BMOQ), the CDS disapproved of the grievor's misconduct (death threats to a course mate), but found no evidence that she was provided with an opportunity to overcome her difficulties. He therefore found that the Progress Review Board should have recommended that she continue training with proper counselling. The CDS also agreed that a recorded warning (RW) was not policy-compliant and ordered that it be cancelled and removed from the grievor's file. The CDS agreed with the Committee that ordering the commanding officer to write a letter of apology could equate to a violation of his right to freedom of expression and would not be genuine. The CDS ordered that the grievor be nominated on the BMOQ-Land, that the 2015 NOI be removed from her file, that the 2017 NOI be kept in abeyance until the grievor reaches a final outcome on the BMOQ-L completion, that the RW be removed from her file and that a decision on her 2016 harassment complaint be rendered without any further delay.