After military panel finds officer innocent, a call for gender parity

HALIFAX — An advocate for sexual assault survivors is calling on the military to incorporate gender parity on court martial panels, after a five-men panel found a Halifax-based military policeman not guilty of sexually assaulting a female superior officer.

Marie-Claude Gagnon, founder of the military sexual trauma support group It’s Just 700, said complainants in sexual assault cases, especially women, would feel more comfortable if there was more diversity on the panel deciding the case.

“Having a five-man panel is definitely not the answer,” said Gagnon in an interview Thursday from Ottawa, one day after Sgt. Kevin MacIntyre was acquitted of sexual assault.

“It could be more inclusive, the way they’re doing their practice, to make sure it’s more equitable — not equal, but equitable — and take gender into consideration, especially when they’re trying to get more women into the military.”

MacIntyre had been charged with sexually assaulting the woman in her Glasgow, Scotland, hotel room on Sept. 27, 2015, during Royal Canadian Navy exercises.

The panel’s verdict came less than two hours after military judge Cdr. J.B.M. Pelletier delivered his final instructions.

According to an Armed Forces website, court martial panels “are selected randomly by the court martial administrator.”

It says panels serve a similar function as juries in a civilian trial, and must reach a unanimous decision to convict.

Gagnon, a former naval reservist and survivor of sexual violence, noted men outnumber women in the military, so it’s almost inevitable that a strong majority of men would be randomly selected for a panel.

She suggested the process could remain random but be refined to ensure a more balanced representation, perhaps by having different groups to randomly select from.

“If you want to give at least the impression of being inclusive, the impression of caring for the victim — because they keep saying their top priority is the victim — then in that case, make sure that the practices are inclusive,” said Gagnon, who acknowledged that sexual assault cases are complex.

During a May 28 standing Senate committee on national security and defence, Sen. PierreHugues Boisvenu asked Canada’s deputy judge advocate general of military justice about gender parity on military panels.

“You do understand that it is intimidating for a woman who has been assaulted to appear before a jury consisting solely of men,” said Boisvenu, asking whether practices could change so that women are better represented on tribunals.

Col. David Antonyshyn replied: “The chief of staff does not have the authority to order that kind of process.” You would have to consult the court martial administrator and the chief military judge and follow a regulatory process in order to do that.”

The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, testified that she told the 48-yearold MacIntyre “no” multiple times, and repeatedly pushed his hand away.

But defence lawyer David Bright argued that the two had consensual sex, and that the woman only told superiors in the days following to cover the fact that she slept with a subordinate and cheated on her husband.