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Two senior Canadian Forces members charged with sexual assaults

OTTAWA — Military police have laid sexual-assault charges against two senior members of the Canadian Armed Forces, including a lieutenant-colonel working as a reservist with the military’s recruiting group in Ontario.

Lt.-Col. Daniel Mainguy is facing one charge of sexual assault and another of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline in relation to what military police allege are two separate and unrelated incidents involving fellow military personnel at Canadian Forces Base Borden.

The Defence Department says Mainguy is a 35-year veteran of the military who was working as a marketing and advertising officer in the recruiting group, but has since been temporarily assigned to another position.

Military police have also charged Master Warrant Officer John MacPherson with two counts of sexual assault in relation to two alleged incidents during a military course in CFB Gagetown, N.B., in 1988.

Military police say an investigation was launched after the alleged victim of the two incidents filed a complaint in April 2016, but that the investigation was subsequently suspended due to lack of evidence.

Military police reopened the file two years later, however, at which point new information was uncovered and the charges laid.

Both cases are now proceeding through the military-justice system.

The Canadian Press