FINDINGS WITHHELD
Navy misconduct inquiry ends
A review of the actions of Royal Canadian Navy officers who joked about bondage and kinky sex during a military conference call has been completed.
But the results and recommendations are being kept under wraps, at least for now.
The inappropriate comments were made in January by navy officers during a Zoom call with more than 100 military personnel. The navy investigated the incident, which happened at Maritime Forces Pacific Command, but determined there was no wrongdoing and the matter was closed.
But when it was revealed by Global News in March that key witnesses were never interviewed and that the investigation was limited to examining only one comment, the resulting controversy forced acting chief of the defence staff Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre to order the navy to review how the first inquiry was conducted.
That review by the navy and defence officials was finished in midJune and accepted in early July by the military leadership.
“Vice-Adm. (Craig) Baines has received the results of the review and endorsed the findings and recommendations,” the Canadian Forces noted in a statement to the Citizen. “Vice-Adm. Baines has directed the Commander of Maritime Forces Pacific Command to action all recommendations.”
The results, for now, aren't being released. The reasons for such secrecy weren't explained by the Canadian Forces.
The first investigation was a public-relations disaster for the Forces, which were already dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct against some of its top officers.
In the navy's case, the individual conducting the investigation was a direct subordinate to the officer who allegedly made the comments. That investigator quickly determined his boss and his fellow senior officers did nothing wrong.
Instead, the navy suggested that female personnel upset with the comments should confront the superior officers directly, Global News reported. It was also revealed the investigation didn't even look at some of the comments about sadomasochism or kinky sex, or whether senior officers on the Zoom call should have intervened when the inappropriate comments were made. Fewer than half of the 132 participants on the call were interviewed.
The Canadian Forces, in an email to the Citizen, noted that Baines had nothing to do with the first investigation. The results of the initial investigation were forwarded to him on March 10.
It was the commander of Maritime Forces Pacific who had approval authority for the initial investigation, according to the military. At the time, the commander was Vice Adm. Bob Auchterlonie.
Baines also recently found himself facing criticism for his decision to go golfing with former chief of the defence staff Gen. Jon Vance, who at the time was under police investigation for allegations of sexual misconduct. Baines described his golfing with Vance as a “public display of support” for the retired general, who has since been charged with obstruction of justice.
In late June, Lt.-Gen. Eyre decided that Baines would continue to serve as head of the navy, saying that the naval officer was being given a chance to redeem himself after the golfing incident.
Earlier this year, the Commons defence committee heard about concerns over how the navy handled the first investigation.
Lt. Cmdr. Raymond Trotter testified that after he raised concerns about the sexual comments on the Zoom call he was contacted by a former navy captain who now works as a public servant at CFB Esquimalt in British Columbia. That public servant swore at Trotter and admonished him for filing the complaint against the senior officer “over nothing.”
The Department of National Defence hasn't identified the public servant in question, but no investigation has been conducted on what some critics say was an attempt to intimidate a witness.
“Senior officers appear to get special treatment when there are sexual misconduct allegations,” Trottier testified to parliamentarians about the military system of investigations into sex misconduct complaints.