OTTAWA—Harjit Sajjan has bowed out of an annual fundraising event originally set up for veterans of the war in Afghanistan, an event whose main beneficiaries include military personnel returning from combat.
The embattled defence minister, however, went ahead with a speech on May 3 to members of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute, billed by his department as an update on “the state of Canadian defence.”
Sajjan had been scheduled to speak at the 8th annual “To the ‘Stan and Back” event on May 2, but founder Cheri Elliott said she was told a scheduling conflict had arisen and he would not be able to attend.
“The official reason for his not being able to attend is he was asked to be elsewhere at the time. That is what I was told,” said Elliott, the mother of a serving Canadian Forces member.
The minister spoke at the same event last year, which raises money for service members as well as first responders dealing with PTSD and other psychological trauma.
Sajjan, a former soldier and veteran of the Afghan war, was back in question period May 2, where he again met sustained fire for having exaggerated his role in Operation Medusa, a key battle involving the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan in 2006.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood alongside his defence minister as interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose picked up where she had left off the previous day, again calling for Sajjan’s resignation.
