Leaders see need to fight sex misconduct

leaders were united in their commitment to fight sexual misconduct in Canada’s military, but divided on the right approach, as the issue made a rare appearance on the campaign trail Wednesday after months of allegations, parliamentary hearings and promises of action.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh were asked during separate campaign events if they would commit to creating an independent watchdog to fight inappropriate and criminal sexual behaviour in the ranks.

Many victims’ advocates and experts have argued since the first allegations in February of misconduct against some of the Canadian Armed Forces’ top officers that independent oversight and accountability are critical to addressing the problem.

Trudeau at an event in Halifax would not commit to creating an independent body to monitor the military and hold it to account, and he instead promised that a re-elected Liberal government would act on the recommendations of retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.

O’Toole committed to creating an independent watchdog for the military, which his party’s platform says would see Canada’s military ombudsman’s office report to Parliament rather than the defence minister, as is currently the case.

O’Toole went on to attack the Liberals, who found themselves under fire this year after revelations of sexual misconduct involving chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance with Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in March 2018. Vance’s case is back in court on Friday. Singh promised to implement recommendation from a review by Arbour’s former Supreme Court benchmate Marie Deschamps in 2015 called for an independent centre to monitor the military’s handling of cases and hold it accountable.