Trevor Cadieu

Trevor John Cadieu is a retired senior Canadian military officer. He reached the rank of lieutenant general and was slated to become army commander, but released from the military following allegations of sexual misconduct almost 30 years before, and after months of delay in court proceedings.^[1] Cadieu maintained the allegations were false but needed to be investigated thoroughly to expose the truth.^[2] In 2022, he travelled to Ukraine to join the fight against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In October 2023, the charges were stayed by an Ontario judge, ruling that unreasonable delays by military police to disclose information to Cadieu and another accused party led to unreasonable delay in the trial.^[3]

Trevor Cadieu was born in Saskatchewan and raised in Vernon, British Columbia.^[4] He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1995 following studies at the Royal Military College of Canada (B.A. History), and was posted to Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) - colloquially referred to as the Strathcona's - an armoured regiment based in Calgary, Alberta. While there, he served in armoured reconnaissance and tank squadrons including a Strathcona Battle Group deployment with the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia (1997) and in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2002) as Battle Captain of the Reconnaissance Squadron.

As a major, he returned to Kandahar from October 2006 to February 2007 in command of a Leopard tank squadron, part of the 1st Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group. Notably, this was the first Canadian tank squadron in active combat in almost 60 years. In this command, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the citation noting operational success during major offensives and other engagements against insurgents.^[5] During 2010-12, Cadieu was the Strathcona's commanding officer.

Cadieu commanded 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2014-2016). As a brigadier-general, from July 2016 to July 2017, Cadieu was commander of Commander of Task Force Jerusalem and the inaugural commander of Task Force Middle East, establishing the regional command post in Amman, Jordan. This work to strengthen the armed forces of Jordan and Lebanon and maintain strong relations with partners in the region earned him the Meritorious Service Cross.^[6] Following this overseas tour, Cadieu was appointed commander of 3rd Canadian Division/Joint Task Force West (2017-2019)^[7] leading military forces through high-readiness training cycles and in support of several domestic operations.

As Director of Staff, Strategic Joint Staff (2019-2021), then Major-General Cadieu worked alongside interagency partners to coordinate the Canadian Armed Forces' response to the COVID-19 pandemic, wildfires and floods, and the evacuation from Afghanistan. He was promoted to Lieutenant-General in August 2021.

A ceremony to designate him Commander of the Canadian Army in September 2021 was cancelled at the last moment due to sexual misconduct allegations dating to 1994-95 when he and the complainant were students at the Royal Military College of Canada.^[8][9] A retired female officer alleged she was raped when she was a first-year cadet by two senior cadets, one of them Cadieu, and in June 2022, he was charged with two counts of sexual assault.^[10] Cadieu maintained the allegations were false but needed to be investigated thoroughly to expose the truth. After he was publicly supported online by some serving and retired military officers including military sexual assault survivors, others responded negatively.^[11]

Following further case review by the Crown, the charges were later combined and changed to one count. On October 10, 2023, the charges against Cadieu were stayed by the Ontario Court of Justice (Kingston, Ontario), Justice Larry O'Brien ruling the accused lost their right to a fair trial within a reasonable time as guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[12] The judge was critical of the military police who investigated the complaint, ruling they were the cause of "lengthy delays" and "not responsive" in providing disclosure to the two defendants. "Someone should be held accountable for allowing nine months to elapse before providing defence counsel with the complainant's first statement" to investigators, Justice O'Brien wrote. "That someone is not defence counsel who each, orally and in writing, and repeatedly requested the complainant's statement to little if any avail."^[13][14]

In April 2022, Cadieu travelled to Ukraine, to assist in training Ukrainian senior military leaders against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[15][16] Russian sources often refer to him as Trevor Kadier.^[17] On 28 April, spokesperson Eduard Basurin, said he was one of as many 400 foreign fighters trapped in the Azovstal iron and steel works during the Siege of Mariupol operation.^[18] Cadieu was not captured, but indicated in an email from Ukraine upon learning of the charges being laid that he was "making arrangements to return to Canada" to cooperate with the investigation.^[19]