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An army brigade commander is threatening to leave appointments vacant if regiments don’t begin naming women as honorary colonels and lieutenant colonels.

“I will not recommend any new honorary appointment unless we see improvement of our diversity targets,” Colonel Daniel Stepaniuk wrote in an Aug. 13 email after a strategic planning session for all regular and reserve units in Ontario.

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Postmedia has a copy of the email.

“I will not recommend an extension of any current honorary unless we move to satisfy our diversity targets… When I say gender diversity targets, think 50/50,” Stepaniuk wrote.

He is the commander of 32 Canadian Brigade Group, based in Toronto but with 12 reserve regiments in Hamilton, Brantford, Mississauga and other cities in southern Ontario. He spent 30 years in the forces, 27 in the army reserve.

In the Canadian army, “honoraries,” as the appointments are colloquially known, are traditionally recruited locally, from the ranks of regimental supporters, business and the like. Army colonels and honorary lieutenant colonels are primarily the preserve of the militia, or part-time reserves.