A former Canadian soldier who protested against the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine is facing the maximum penalty of disgraceful dismissal after pleading guilty in a military court on Tuesday.
Former Chief Warrant Officer James Topp criticized the vaccination mandate for the military and other uniformed federal workers in February 2022.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of conduct prejudicial to law and order at the beginning of his court-martial in New Westminster, British Columbia.
Two other charges similar to his uniform were dropped by prosecutors after Topp pleaded not guilty early in the process.
The fees arise from statements made through Topp in two videos recorded in Abbotsford, B. C. and its surroundings, which were later posted on social media.
In the videos, Topp appears in the uniform of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, where she had served in the past.
The Fraser Valley resident then led a months-long march from Vancouver to Ottawa and was a symbol for Canadians who oppose vaccine needs and the government’s perceived overreach.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, then a leadership candidate, joined Topp on the last leg of his march through the nation’s capital and said he supported the soldier’s request for personal freedom.
Army Reservist James Topp speaks with a protester at a protest against COVID-19 fitness measures at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, Thursday, June 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
Topp, who was discharged from the army earlier this year, joined normal forces in 1990 and deployed to Bosnia, Macedonia and Afghanistan, before being transferred to the army reserve in 2019.
Judge Catherine Julie Deschenes heard that Topp attended briefings about the COVID-19 pandemic and the military’s vaccine policy, but did not attest to his own vaccination status.
One of Topp’s commanders as a reservist said Topp’s protest against the vaccine mandate was an example to his fellow soldiers.
Lieutenant Colonel. Greg Chan, who has commanded the Royal Regiment of Westminster since June 2021, told the court that Topp’s conduct had eroded acceptance within his unit and tarnished the army’s symbol in the community.
The noncommissioned officer who investigated the videos that surfaced on TikTok and YouTube told the court he was frustrated and saddened when he saw such a decorated soldier take on the government’s public fitness measures.
“Because of the price of its production, it became a tool for other people who were already putting a lot of pressure on our society when our society was already going through a massive medical crisis,” Christopher Baird Hennebery testified.
The videos have also “created an enormous moral challenge within the Canadian Armed Forces,” he said.
Despite his guilty plea, Topp has spoken out to lay out why he has publicly defied the vaccine requirement, speaking cautiously and rarely emotionally about his intellectual state during the pandemic.
“I had a lot of difficulty because it felt coercive, it was done in a hurry and I felt like it was going to open the door to other practices that were just going to obstruct the way we live our lives,” Topp said of the mandate.
Both videos were created on the same day; one with his niece’s phone at an Abbotsford home and the other with the assistance of a cameraman at the Sumas border crossing, he said.
The career soldier, who was a reservist at the time, testified that he was temporarily suspended without pay from his normal duty as a service manager at the RCMP Pacific Region Training Center in Chilliwack, B. C. , due to his refusal to attest to his vaccination status.
“I got involved in protecting the product,” he continued. It seemed like something that was done in a state of worry and very hasty. “
When Topp’s standby unit was called in to assist in the November 2021 floods in Hope, British Columbia, his reputation for vaccination prevented him from joining the crisis response, he said.
“I got to a point where I didn’t need to live anymore,” Topp told the court. “Then I came up with an idea and in February I had to do something, so I did. “
The former soldier said he wasn’t looking for attention or movement when making the videos. He said he donned Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry uniform because the unit “contributes to the type of user I am. “
“I made those videos because what I was thinking and what was happening to others was wrong,” he added.
Eva Kouwenhoven testified on behalf of her brother and felt that the army had “abandoned” Topp because of his refusal to be vaccinated.
The start of the “Freedom Convoy” to Ottawa in January 2022 ignited a “spark” in his brother and prompted him to march to the capital the following summer to call for an end to the vaccine mandate and the reinstatement of workers who had lost their vaccines. Jobs. . . for refusing to get vaccinated,” he said.
The hearing will continue Wednesday.