Reservist Picks Afghanistan After NB Power Denies Leave
The Telegraph-Journal ^ | 18 January 2007 | DANIEL MARK WHEATON

Story appeared on page A1.

A military reservist who nominated NB Power for an award for supporting the Canadian Forces has resigned after the Crown corporation refused him a leave of absence to deploy to Afghanistan.

Maj. Sean Courty took the career hit in order to lead a team of soldiers from across Atlantic Canada who are leaving within three weeks for Kandahar on a six-month mission.

"I had to make a difficult decision," Courty said. He left the job the first week of June and is now unemployed and awaiting deployment.

Courty was a security official at NB Power's Point Lepreau nuclear generating station and a member of the plant's emergency nuclear response team.

The 33-year-old officer has been a reserve member for the last 14 years and had been training for the Afghanistan mission for months.

"The Canadian Forces had invested a lot into my training and I had travelled on multiple international courses to make sure I had the skill set to lead this team."

Courty, who travelled to Afghanistan in early December to prepare for the upcoming mission, said he believed his employer had agreed verbally to a leave of absence. However, when he formally requested a leave of absence in writing, he said his request was denied.

NB Power declined interview requests on the topic Wednesday.

"Each request is assessed on an individual basis and NB Power does not comment on individual applications for privacy reasons," Janice McNeil, NB Power's director of communications, stated in a prepared text.

Courty's team will work on reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan by working with non-profit organizations and international military forces. The team will replace a group of Canadian soldiers already doing this task.

Federal legislation requires employers to "reinstate members of the reserve force" if they are called out in an emergency - "an insurrection, riot, invasion or armed conflict of war."

The voluntary mission Courty is taking part in for the reconstruction of Afghanistan does not qualify as an emergency under the federal Public Safety Act.

The provincial government grants individual employees leaves of absence on a case-by-case basis, said Christina Winsor, a spokeswoman with the Department of Human Resources. Winsor said the policy, which applies to non-union employees of the civil service, does not apply to Crown corporations, which have their own policies.

Marc Belliveau, a spokesmann with the Department of Energy, which oversees NB Power, said he doubts Energy Minister Jack Keir was aware of Courty's plight. Belliveau said Keir may investigate the situation.

Ironically, the Canadian Forces Liasion Council named NB Power the most supportive provincial employer of the Canadian Forces in 2005, thanks to a nomination by Courty.

Courty's union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 37, has filed a grievance on his behalf.

Union representative Ross Galbraith said NB Power could use Courty's skills.

"Sean is going to gain a lot of experience while he is away," he said.

"The solution I'd like to see NB Power look at is offering him a job when he comes back to Canada. I think that that's the right solution here, to take advantage of the experience he has gained."

Major Richard Gower, who represents the Canadian Forces Liaison Council, said the group is asked for help from up to 50 reservists each year who are unable to get time off work.

The volunteer council, which aims to boost the number of reservists across the country, mediates work disputes between reserve force members and employers.

Gower said 90 per cent of cases similar to Courty's are resolved without a job loss.

NB Power has at least one statement of support for the Reserve Force on file with the CFLC.

Courty said he is pleased to be able to represent Canada. He took part in a similar mission in Haiti three years ago.

His team expects to depart for Afghanistan in late January or early February.

Courty, a married father of two, said his wife, Danika Savoie-Courty, is supporting him.

"Obviously she'd rather that I would be here but she knows that this is the life, the job, the career that I chose and at the end of the day, for all the right reasons, she supports everything about it."

Courty said he has other business opportunities waiting for him when he returns to Canada.