Military sexual misconduct centre expands its hours
A former Canadian Navy sailor recalls the trapped feeling of being sexually harassed on a ship — of having nowhere to go and nobody to listen.
“You are at sea — nobody gets in and nobody gets out,” said Nicola Li, who wrote a book about her experiences called Refuge in the Black Deck under the name Nicola Peffers. “You are there for better or worse.”
The 34-year-old Victoria woman, who spent four years in the navy, said she was happy to hear that the Canadian Armed Forces is expanding its Sexual Misconduct Response Centre to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Previously, the centre operated 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday.
The centre now has eight counsellors, up from five. The operation will be paid for through the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre’s annual budget of $2.2 million.
Li said 24-7, confidential help available via satellite telephone would have been a lifeline to her onboard ship.
“To be frank, it should have been 24-7 right out of the gate,” she said.
John Forster, deputy minister at the Department of National Defence, said in a statement the move to 24-7 operations for the centre illustrates the Canadian Armed Forces’ commitment to supporting its people anywhere, anytime.
Counsellors at the centre are trained in psychology and have experience with mental health and trauma within the Canadian Armed Forces.
On Monday, Rear Admiral Art McDonald, commander of the Canadian Navy’s Pacific fleet based at CFB Esquimalt, said he was gratified to hear the Canadian Armed Forces continues to be serious about the issue.
“I want all of our shipmates here [in the Pacific] to know we will not tolerate any instances of sexual misconduct within our ranks,” said McDonald in an emailed statement. “For those who have been subjected to or victimized by inappropriate sexual behaviour, I want them to know they are supported.”
The Sexual Misconduct Response Centre was established in September 2015, one of the cornerstone recommendations of an external report into sexual misconduct and harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces.
But within a year of the centre’s establishment, Statistics Canada released a survey that revealed 1.7 per cent of the 90,000 people in the forces had been sexually assaulted in the previous 12 months, twice the national average.
That survey prompted chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance to read the riot act to members of the forces.
“This behaviour has to stop,” Vance told reporters in 2016. “Those who choose not to follow my orders will be dealt with.”
Li was in the navy from 2008 to 2012, a term that included one deployment on HMCS Winnipeg.
Her book is named for the ship’s “black deck,” a small space near the stacks where she sought refuge.
It was on that deployment where the harassment started, including a call to a meeting with a more senior sailor who was dressed only in his underpants, or being grabbed and groped and pulled close.
Much of the behavior was delivered via innuendo, which made it difficult for her to complain about anything specific.
Eventually, suffering from stress, she took medical leave, then retired.
Li said a telephone counselling service might have helped, if only to convince her that what she was enduring was wrong. Instead, she just told herself to tough it out.
“I wanted to prove myself,” she said. “I wanted to stick it out.
“My mantra became: ‘One more day, one more day, one more day, one more day.’ ”