Women must wait again
Memo to women in the Canadian military experiencing sexual misconduct: You're still on your own.
Yes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government mouth familiar platitudes about change and justice. They've done that since 2015, when former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps found sexual misconduct “endemic” in the Canadian Armed Forces in a blistering report that called for independent oversight of sexual misconduct investigations.
That didn't happen. And nothing has changed.
In early June, in a report on the military justice system, another former Supreme Court justice, Morris Fish, said sexual misconduct in the military is as rampant and destructive today in 2021 as it was in 2015.
Among other recommendations, he called for the military to immediately stop requiring victims of sexual misconduct to report transgressions using the chain of command.
The reason should be obvious. Since sexual misconduct often involves superior officers taking advantage of subordinates, the chain of command itself is hopelessly compromised. How can sexual misconduct victims expect justice under such a system?
The federal government and military accepted Fish's recommendations in principle but gave no timeline for implementation.
FARCICAL SITUATION
So women in the military victimized by sexual misconduct still must report that abuse through the chain of command, even though their superiors could be the abusers.
The farcical nature of that situation is further underlined by the string of high-level military officers accused of past sexual misconduct with subordinate female officers this year — two chiefs of defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance and Admiral Art McDonald, along with Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin and Vice-Admiral Haydn Edmundson.
In May, Maj.-Gen. Peter Dawe, commander of Canada's Special Forces, was placed on indefinite leave after reports that he wrote a letter of support four years ago for an officer who had sexually assaulted another officer's wife.
Despite the crisis, with a fall federal election strongly rumoured, government and opposition politicians — again, while voicing concerned rhetoric — too often have focused more on trying to score political points while debating the issue of sexual misconduct in Canada's military.
On Monday, the Liberals on the House of Commons defence committee shut down the body's investigation of the scandal without the committee issuing a joint, non-partisan report.
Instead, Liberals issued their own 24 proposals, none of which apparently deal with accountability.
It's been a shameful display.
The victims, once again, are women in Canada's military, who must serve their country knowing the current military justice system has been unable to protect them from sexual predation.