Military: Doubling of sex assault reports is progress

OTTAWA — The Canadian Forces are explaining a dramatic increase in the number of sexualassault reports last year as proof that efforts to crack down on such illicit behaviour in the military are having a positive impact — and not that there have been more actual crimes.

Military authorities received 111 reports of sexual assault between April 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018, according to new figures provided to The Canadian Press. That was more than double the 47 such reports received over the previous year.

While those numbers appear troubling, at least on the surface, the head of the military’s sexual misconduct response team suggested that they, in fact, represent a sign of progress in the Forces’ commitment to eliminate such offences from the ranks.

“It’s a positive indication that people feel free to come forward,” said Commodore Rebecca Patterson. She took over command of the response team in July.

“We have to combine that with the fact that things that may have been overlooked in the past are now being reported because there is the understanding among members of the (military) that they will report if they see things.”

However, the military did not provide a breakdown on when the alleged sexual assaults actually occurred, and Patterson admitted that officials are still wrestling with questions about the figures, which were gathered from across the entire Forces.

“As we move forward and we build the analytics piece into those various databases, the intent would be to be able to say: Are these occurring cases with serving members or historical cases based on a time frame?” she said.

One thing that is clear is that inappropriate behaviour continued to occur within the Forces over the past year.

That was despite chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance repeatedly promising to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct in the ranks, and warning those who didn’t listen they would be severely punished.

In addition to the alleged sexual assaults, military authorities received 231 reports of non-criminal inappropriate sexual behaviour that included frequent sexual language or jokes, the displaying of sexually explicit material and “pressuring for sexual activity.”

There were another 76 reports of other types of alleged sexual crimes, including sexual harassment, indecent exposure, child pornography, abuse of authority and sexual exploitation.

And while some of the inappropriate behaviour occurred before Vance’s promised clampdown, about three-quarters of the reports dealt with incidents that occurred in 2017.