No defence for sexual abuse in military

Toxic culture remains entrenched despite efforts to address problem

Appalling is the only word to describe the findings of a new survey of Canadian military personnel made public last week. It revealed that 960 full-time soldiers — or 1.7 per cent of regular membership — report having been sexually assaulted within the last year.

It’s all the more shameful that this is the reality on the ground, more than a year after former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps uncovered “endemic” sexual misconduct within the military and made recommendations on how to address it. And after Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance made it his personal mission to exorcise sexual abuse, harassment and intimidation from the Canadian Forces, launching Operation HONOUR to this end.

If anything, the survey is under-reporting the true extent of the problem. The 43,000 respondents represent just over half of the Canadian Armed Forces personnel.

The voluntary survey conducted by Statistics Canada was the first of its kind. It found that:

1.7 per cent of regular force members — 4.8 per cent of women and 1.2 per cent of men — say they were sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months;

The bulk of those assaults took the form of unwanted sexual touching;

79 per cent of regular force members say they witnessed, overheard or experienced sexualized behaviour;

76 per cent of regular force members say they heard or were the targets of sexual jokes;

and this despite the fact that 81 per cent of respondents knew complaints about sexual misconduct would be taken seriously if reported and 78 per cent say inappropriate sexual behaviour would not be tolerated in their unit.

Canadian soldiers are trained to confront danger — but it shouldn’t be at the hands of comrades or superior officers. These findings suggest the Canadian military may be among the highest-risk workplaces for harassment and abuse in the country, with the RCMP, which is in the process of resolving its own sexual assault epidemic, as a rival. According to the Statistics Canada report, 0.9 per cent of working Canadians report having been victims of sexual assault in any situation.

Since the Deschamps report was tabled, a new resource centre to support victims of sexual violence within the military has been established. Close to 150 cases of sexual misconduct were investigated, resulting in 30 perpetrators being punished as of last August, with many cases still under study.

But the survey results suggest the toxic culture remains deeply entrenched despite these efforts.

Vance called the results “sobering and disappointing.”

Overhauling an organizational culture can take time. But it shouldn’t take this long in a hierarchical structure like the military that demands orders be followed without question

A lack of respect for women is a major aspect of the disturbing mindset that gives way to sexually predatory behaviour. That it’s so prevalent in the defence forces, which exist to protect the country, is simply indefensible.