One interesting thing about the Library and Archives Canada is that the service files of former service members become available 20 years after their death.
Even the rule for those deceased less than 20 years isn’t set in concrete. By that I mean I asked for the posting records for Angus Alexander McRae, whom died in May of 2011. LAC released his posting records to me as LAC considers posting records to be public information.
So, I decided to submit an ATI request for one Sgt. Alexander Kalichuk. I wasn’t sure what I’d get. Was I ever in for a surprise.
Cause of death was determined to be alcohol related illnesses.
The media stories about Alexander Kalichuk had never mentioned that he had a wife. His service files make it clear that not only did he have a wife, but he also had three children.
Two children were his step children, and one child was his.
Mr. Kalichuk first enlisted into the Royal Canadian Army in 1943. He was released from service in December of 1945. He went back to his family farm, where he stayed until 1950 when he re-enlisted into the Royal Canadian Air Force.
During his first stint in the Royal Canadian Army, he seemed to be just an average guy. On his second time in the Canadian military, he seemed to have issues.
I’ve actually got to track down a copy of the 1950 Criminal Code, to see exactly was language was used in Section 205-B. I’ll head on over to the Supreme Court of BC Law Library next week.
An “indecent act” tends to be sexual in nature.
Okay. I know the 1950’s were a different time. 1959 was 12 years before I was born. But come on, I can’t be the only one who finds it completely odd for a 36 year old man to be driving around offering child size panties to young girls if they hop into his car and give him directions to a town that’s literally straight down the same road. And to top it off he also had chocolates and alcohol in the vehicle. I’m surprised that the reports don’t mention that he was driving around in a van with “Free Candy” painted on the sides.
When questioned about the “indecent behaviour” he was convicted of in 1950, Kalichuk developed “nearly complete amnesia”
The charges to the liquor stemmed from the liquor he had in his car.
Kalichuk was convicted on June 2nd, 1959 for only the liquor violations.
I wonder if he felt emboldened at having pulled one over on the legal system
I wonder. Did Kalichuk show up in court that day wearing his uniform and his WWII medals pinned to his chest? Was the magistrate so blinded by the uniform and the medals that he bought Kalichuk’s explanation that Kalichuk had for driving around offering young girls panties if they get in to his car?
Gotta wonder if things would have turned out differently for both Cheryl Lynne Harper and Steven Truscott had the Magistrate given Sgt. Kalichuk some time in jail as opposed to the “benefit of the doubt”.
Either that, or the requirements to get “Secret” clearance were very, very low.
Seems to me like the Canadian Forces had a real problem with tracking disciplinary matters.
“The following was not produced in court as the O.P.P. believed that their case should stand or fall on the one situation in order that the following material could be used in court on another substantial occasion: The O.P.P. have had a number of complaints from rural schools, names of which were provided to but not taken by the writer, of a person answering the airman’s description making such advances to school girls and/or suspected of plans to making such advances. Licence number of car involved was obtained and it was established that the airman’s previous car (he recently obtained a new one) and that he apparently was in possession of the car. The point here is that the airman had been under surveylance(sic) because of the complaints for some time.”
I wonder if this is why any paperwork or reports the O.P.P. had about Kalichuk’s odd behaviours just evaporated. Did the O.P.P. destroy any paperwork or surveillance notes they had about Kalichuk’s involvement with young girls in the days after Cheryl Lynne Harper’s murder as they feared the public ever finding out that Kalichuk was under surveillance by the O.P.P. when Harper disappeared and was murdered.
Does this prove that Sgt. Alexander Edward Kalichuk raped and murdered Cheryl Lynne Harper.
No.
But it does raise some very serious concerns about the inability of the military police and the Ontario Provincial Police to cooperate.
In the 1950’s the National Defence Act allowed for the services to conduct service tribunals for all Criminal Code offences with the exception of Murder, Manslaughter, and Rape. And if you’ve followed my blog, you know that rape wasn’t always the preferred charge when female children were abused. So, what kept the Royal Canadian Air Force from trying Mr. Kalichuk?
From his service files it would appear that Kalichuk was at the following stations:
RCAF Stn Aylmer,
RCAF Stn Centralia,
RCAF Stn Clinton,
RCAF Stn Resolute Bay,
RCAF Stn Trenton.
With the obvious exception of RCAF Stn Resolute Bay, were there any other instances of a weird man driving around offering young girl new panties if they jumped in his car?
In the next few days, I’ll publish links to all of the paperwork that I received from LAC.
