Military culture hostile to women: report
Leadership is given harsh criticism in assessment of sex assaults, harassment
OTTAWA — Senior military leaders are promising action after an explosive report found an “underlying sexual culture” in the Canadian Armed Forces that is hostile to women and leaves victims of sexual assault and harassment to fend for themselves.
But exactly what action will be taken, and whether it will be enough, remains uncertain.
On Thursday, the military released the results of a yearlong investigation by retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps into military sexual harassment and assaults. Military commanders ordered the external probe in April 2014 after an investigation by l’Actualité and Maclean’s concluded that such incidents were being ignored or played down.
For her report, Deschamps interviewed hundreds of full- and parttime military personnel, as well as commanding officers, military police, chaplains, nurses and social workers. Many interviews were on a confidential basis.
The interviews pointed to what Deschamps described as a “hostile sexualized environment” in the military, particularly among recruits and the junior ranks, which included everything from swearing and sexual innuendo to “dubious relationships” between low-ranking women and high-ranking men. It also included rape.
“At the most extreme, these reports of sexual violence highlighted the use of sex to enforce power relationships,” Deschamps’s report reads, “and to punish and ostracize a member of a unit.”
The military’s leadership came under particularly harsh criticism. Deschamps found military personnel “became inured to this sexualized culture as they move up the ranks,” with officers turning a blind eye to inappropriate conduct and senior non-commissioned officers “imposing a culture where no one speaks up.”
Deschamps said it is “readily apparent” that a large percentage of incidents involving sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military are not reported. Victims were worried they would hurt their careers, not be believed, or even face retaliation from peers and supervisors.
“Underlying all these concerns is a deep mistrust that the chain of command will take such complaints seriously,” the report says, adding, “Comprehensive cultural change is therefore required, and such change cannot occur without the proactive engagement of senior leaders.”
Deschamps made 10 recommendations. Many related to the establishment of an independent centre outside the military that would be responsible for receiving reports of inappropriate sexual misconduct, as well as overseeing prevention, victim support and research.
In the face of such stinging criticism, the military’s most senior leadership went to great lengths Thursday to convey to Canadian Forces members and the public that it had accepted the findings and was ready to act. However, it was uneasy with the idea of an independent centre.
During a 90-minute news conference attended by the heads of the Canadian army, air force and navy, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Tom Lawson said it was unacceptable that any military personnel should “have to defend themselves against the words or the actions of another Canadian Armed Forces members.”
He touted the recent appointment of Maj.-Gen. Christine Whitecross, the military’s most senior female officer, to head a task force charged with developing a course of action, and monitoring and reporting on the results.
“This is a complex problem within a complex institution,” Lawson said. “The situation therefore will require a sustained effort from across the Canadian Forces for an extended period of time. We’re not talking about days and weeks, but months and years.”
But when it came to the centrepiece of Deschamps’s recommendations, namely the establishment of the independent centre outside the military, both Lawson and Whitecross were noncommittal.
In fact, Whitecross repeatedly referred to a “centralized capability,” while Lawson said at various times that the idea was “unique,” “complex,” and one “anyone within the chain of command would at first be concerned with.”
“What we need to do is look at what provides the proper outcome for our members,” Lawson said.
“We need to look at what’s legal within our system, what’s expected of us from the government, what the chief of defence staff expects from his chain of command. It’s important that we look at all of those factors.”
Whitecross and her team are expected to visit the United States, Australia and several European countries in the coming weeks, as well as meet with experts in Canada, before drawing a final conclusion.
For her part, Deschamps told reporters the creation of an independent centre outside the military, as has already been established in the United States, Australia and France, is “essential.”
But she later added that if Canadian military officials “find better practices than what I found, I will listen.”
During the news conference, Lawson found himself defending comments he made in May 2014, in which he referenced an internal Canadian Forces survey from 2012 that found 98.5 per cent of military members said they had not been subject to sexual misconduct. At the time, he warned against “jumping to conclusions.”
“We had indications of very few individuals coming forward. Our belief therefore was that our policies and procedures were working very well,” he said Thursday. “But what Madame Deschamps’ study and report brought forward is it may not have been working at the level we had confidence in.”
Lawson is due to be replaced by Lt.-Gen. Jonathan Vance as the Canadian Forces’ top officer in the coming weeks. Vance, who currently oversees all Canadian military operations, was not at Thursday’s news conference.
However, Lawson said Vance had been briefed on Deschamps’s report and supported the military’s response.
“Underlying all these concerns is a deep mistrust that the chain of command will take such complaints seriously.”
Report from retired Supreme court just ice Marie deschamps