The Department of National Defence says rumours that Canada’s new chief of defence staff tried to get out of Iraq ahead of the troops she was commanding on a 2020 NATO mission are “entirely false, baseless and unfounded.”
“We are aware of ongoing disinformation stories currently spreading on social media targeting General Jennie Carignan and her deployment to Iraq,” a department spokesperson told True North. “To set the record straight, these claims are entirely false, baseless and unfounded, with no credible evidence or reliable source to support these false allegations. They are aimed at undermining our organization and our mission.”
This response to True North comes after days of online rumours circulating on Reddit and the Canadian Army chat forum following Carignan’s promotion to general and her appointment as the new chief of defence staff.
The allegation, which was not accompanied by any evidence, is that while leading a NATO training mission in Iraq, Carignan, then a major-general, attempted to leave her post and extricate herself along with her personal belongings ahead of her troops under her command before being turned around by a more senior NATO general.
“She cut and run while she was in charge of the mission in Iraq,” 15-year Canadian Army veteran Dave Morrow said on the latest episode of the Faulkner Show on True North. Morrow was not in Iraq and never served under Gen. Carignan in his military career, but was relaying what he called “RUMINT,” an unofficial military abbreviation for “rumour intelligence.”
“Now I wasn’t there but having spoke to folks that were, essentially we are dealing with a general who is in charge of her troops in Iraq, incoming fires so rockets started to be lobbed into the camp and she decided to cut and run, calls her own evacuation, packs up her carpets and the only thing that prevented her from getting on the helicopters was another NATO general from the United States basically dressing her down and telling her to get back into her post,” Morrow said.
CAF veteran Dave Morrow (@Hrd2killPod) explains the widely circulating online rumours that while General Jennie Carignan was leading a NATO training mission in Iraq in 2020, she attempted to leave her post along with her personal belongings ahead of her troops under fire. pic.twitter.com/9GwPN4MUt1
— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) July 24, 2024
Carignan made history with her appointment, becoming the first woman to lead the Canadian Armed Forces and the first woman to lead a Five Eyes military.
When news broke of Carignan’s appointment two months prior to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement, the online rumours regarding her conduct in Iraq began.
“Like I said before, I’m excited to ask the ma’am to explain her actions in early January 2020 in a town hall. I’m eager to hear why she valued her carpets higher than the lives of her troops and why she decided to try (until the Americans stopped her) to evac first, said one Reddit user on the r/CanadianForces subforum last month.”
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At the official change of command ceremony in Ottawa last week, outgoing defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre lashed out at the critics of Carignan’s appointment as “useful idiots” for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“Our own institution is being targeted every day as we see pro-Kremlin trolls tailoring their insidious propaganda to cause maximum harm, in many cases with fabricated personal attacks,” Eyre said.
“This is a real issue that lures those who would drag us into the culture wars.”
Before being tapped by Justin Trudeau to become Canada’s top soldier last month, in 2021 then Lt.-Gen. Carignan was tasked with heading up the new post of chief of professional conduct and culture following a string of sexual misconduct allegations made by female Canadian Armed Forces members.
