Colonel Dan Munro…..

I would find out in July of 2012 that Captain Father Angus McRae’s commanding officer was Colonel Dan Munro, the base commander of CFB Edmonton. Munro’s name is spelt without the “e”.

What Dan Munro’s involvement was with Captain Father Angus McRae is something that we’ll probably never know for sure. I do know from the contents of both the pre-1998 National Defence Act and Legislative Summary LS-311E that the commanding officer of the accused was required to conduct a summary investigation AFTER the military police laid charges. It would then be the decision of this commanding officer if charges were to proceed against the accused or if the charges would be dropped.

When Fred R. Cunningham told me in November of 2011 that the “brass” has dismissed most of the charges brought against Captain McRae, Col Munro is certainly one possible candidate.

But then again, Col Munro was subject to the Code of Service Discipline. If Col Munro dismissed the additional charges that had been brought against Captain McRae, was Munro doing this of his own volition, or was he simply following orders from higher up the chain of command.

According to Jack S., Captain McRae was the first officer in the Canadian Armed Forces convicted of molesting children. And considering that McRae was known to have molested over 25 children on the base, I can see there having been a big push from one of three possible sources.

Western Command.

National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa.

The office of Minister of National Defence, Gilles Lamontagne.

In July of 2016 I made contact with Dan Munro. Unfortunately when he learnt of what it was I wished to discuss with him he never got back to me.

I know that in talking with Jack S., Fred Cunningham, and some other brats that were old enough to know of the details of the McRae fiasco, the fiasco left a bitter taste in the mouths of a lot of people.

According to one former brat, there were plans afoot within the Junior Ranks mess to lynch both McRae and Mr. P.S. and to make it look like an untimely accident. And if you think back to the crimes committed in Somalia by the Canadian Airborne Regiment, there’s no doubt in my mind that had some of the members of the C.A.R. on CFB Namao got their hands on Captain McRae or Mr. P.S., they truly would have wound up dead.

So, it’s no surprise that Dan Munro, Captain McRae’s commanding officer, would want nothing to do with reliving the McRae fiasco.

Then again, there’s the sheer embarassment issue.

How can your direct subordinate molest over 25 children for about 1-1/2 years less than 200 metres away from the base military police shack.

Yeah, I can see that one fact alone making a lot of people want to keep their mouths shut.

Then again, the order to dismiss the majority of charges against Captain McRae could have really come from higher up the chain of command.

Captain McRae was investigated by the military police in 1973 for having committed “acts of homosexuality” at the Royal Military College at CFB Kingston.

Captain McRae had an affair with a teenage boy on Canadian Forces Station Holberg on Vancouver Island just prior to his transfer to CFB Namao.

Was Captain McRae on “defaulters”?

Was Captain McRae supposed to have been supervised at all times while he resided on CFB Namao?

CFAO 19-20 allowed for a member suspected of being a homosexual to request counselling and rehabilitation (conversion therapy). Was Captain McRae receiving this “therapy” at CFB Namao?

Maybe if Captain McRae had been diagnosed as a pedophile instead of a homosexual, he would have been dealt with appropriately.

But, as we all know, the Canadian Armed Forces tended to bungle things like this. To the military, pedophilia and homosexuality are one and the same. They’re actually not the same.

In early 2018, I asked Sgt. Damon Tenaschuk if it would be possible for him to speak to Colonel Dan Munro to see if Munro could shed some light on what had occured back in 1980.

I was somewhat surprised when I recevied the following email from Sgt. Tenaschuk stating that he could not investigate Colonel Munro becuase charges could not be brought against Colonel Munro if it was found that he had done something illegal during the summary investigation phase of McRae’s investigation.

Wow. That was amazing how fast the idea of simply talking to Munro went from being a matter of asking questions to being a matter of a criminal investigation.