DESCHAMPS SLAMS LACK OF PROGRESS ON MILITARY MISCONDUCT.
Oversight needed, former justice says
Retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps is criticizing the Canadian Armed Forces for not having done more to address sexual misconduct, as experts call for more independent oversight of the military to finally root such behaviour from the ranks.
Deschamps told a parliamentary committee Monday that she had expected more progress from the military since her explosive 2015 report detailing a highly sexualized culture in the Armed Forces. She noted that some of her recommendations are still gathering dust.
That includes establishing an independent centre outside the military's chain of command that would be the main authority for receiving reports of inappropriate and criminal behaviour from service members and the military as a whole.
“I have the impression that very little has changed,” Deschamps told the House of Commons defence committee.
Deschamps's comments and the calls for more independent oversight come after allegations against former chief of the Defence Staff Jonathan Vance, who spent his five years as Canada's top commander driving efforts to end sexual misconduct in the Armed Forces.
Vance is now accused of having himself acted inappropriately while in uniform, allegations he has denied.
Military police, who recently revealed they investigated Vance's conduct before he was made chief in 2015 but did not lay any charges, have launched an investigation of the new allegations.
The Liberal government has promised an independent review that has yet to be launched weeks after the allegations first surfaced, while a House of Commons committee is studying Vance's conduct and how the government reacted to it.
Military commanders have long argued the Armed Forces is a unique institution and only those who have worn a uniform truly understand what makes it tick, implying outside interference could hurt its ability to defend Canada.
Experts such as Megan MacKenzie, who studies military sexual misconduct, at Simon Fraser University in B.C., say it is all part of a pattern that ultimately leaves the Armed Forces no further ahead and service members still at risk.
Those same experts say what is needed is not more studies or zero-tolerance declarations from the brass but real oversight and accountability for the military.
That could start with finally implementing a recommendation made six years ago, when the Armed Forces was last struggling with allegations of a toxic, sexualized culture: the creation of an independent centre to hold the military to account for sexual assault and harassment.
The recommendation was the centrepiece of Deschamps's plan to address the problem. Her report in 2015 described the extent of the problem.
“It isn't the silver bullet in dealing with culture change and all that,” said MacKenzie. “But I think it is the most obvious, clearest path forward towards some kind of sense that there's accountability.”
Conservative defence critic James Bezan and his NDP counterpart, Randall Garrison, both of whom sit on the House of Commons committee studying the allegations against Vance, have voiced support for an independent centre.
Military commanders have long resisted such oversight, upon which seven of Deschamps's 10 recommendations were based, and successive governments tacitly sided with them by leaving the Armed Forces to manage the issue on its own.
The federal government did set up the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre (SMRC) in September 2015. Part of the civilian arm of the Department of National Defence, it provides support for victims and information to military leaders.
“But it's not about accountability,” said Maya Eichler, an expert on military sexual misconduct, at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax. “It never was, and it never can be.”
Both Deschamps and SMRC executive director Denise Preston told the defence committee that accountability is not part of the centre's mandate.
Preston instead described the SMRC's role as monitoring the Canadian Armed Forces, a task she indicated has been made difficult by a lack of information from the military.
“In order for us to be able to monitor their efforts, we need to be able to have access to certain information and certain sets of data,” she said. “And that is (not) well established. It's certainly a priority we're continuing to work on.”
Deschamps noted she specifically called for the centre to be independent and the main place where reports of military sexual misconduct are collected.
“Not only is the centre not the main authority, but this centre doesn't even have direct access to data,” Deschamps said. “So in my opinion, giving the centre this responsibility, or at least giving it access to data, seems to me to be a priority.”