Canada’s military says it has implemented sexual misconduct recommendations. Experts on the outside disagree

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/04/2021 (1242 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A senior Canadian military officer said this month the armed forces had “implemented” all 10 recommendations from a landmark review of sexual misconduct in the forces, which found the problem to be “endemic.”

But experts on the outside would disagree.

“I don’t think you’ll find a single subject matter expert in Canada who would say that all 10 recommendations of the…report have been implemented,” said Maya Eichler, an expert on sexual misconduct in the Canadian armed forces at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.

“It’s a good example of why the military does need external help and support to get this right,” said Eichler, who is also Canada research chair in social innovation and community engagement.

Sexual misconduct in the Canadian military has come under heightened scrutiny this year, as two former chiefs of the defence staff are under military police investigation over alleged inappropriate behaviour, and as the government promises a major culture change.

In her landmark 2015 review, retired Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps recommended, among other things, the creation of an independent body that would receive reports of sexual assault in the CAF, as well as act as the central authority on data collection. Many of her other recommendations hinged on the creation of what she called the “centre for accountability.”

Such a body has never been created.

And so when a senior military officer told a parliamentary committee earlier this month that the military has “implemented” all 10 of Deschamps’s recommendations, it came as a shock to outside experts.

“I think that there is still an inability to really grapple with the scope of the problem and I think because of that, it means you can sort of move the goal posts and make your existing efforts look like they are enough,” said Megan MacKenzie, Simons chair in international law and human security at Simon Fraser University, who specializes in sexual misconduct in the armed forces.

Even Deschamps, who does not comment to media on her report, has stated before various parliamentary committees this year that it’s her impression that little action has been taken on her recommendations.

“From our perspective, we believe we have achieved all 10 of those recommendations,” Brig.-Gen. Andrew Atherton told the standing committee on the status of women earlier this month.

Atherton, who is responsible for co-ordinating the military’s efforts in tackling sexual misconduct, said it will now be up to the defence department’s audit committee to confirm if in fact the recommendations have been met.

What was instead created in the wake of the Deschamps report is the civilian-run sexual misconduct response centre, which reports to the deputy defence minister.

The centre provides supports to complainants, but unlike what Deschamps recommended, it does not have the power to investigate allegations and it does not act as the central body for data collection.

“In my mind, those are the two largest deviations from what Madame Deschamps had recommended,” said the centre’s executive director, Denise Preston, in an interview this week.

The armed forces also released last year the so-called “Path to dignity and respect,” a strategy to effect culture change in the military, to meet another key Deschamps recommendation.

“(Atherton’s) intention was to demonstrate that the CAF has worked hard to address the issues raised by the Honourable Mme Deschamps and that with the release of The Path, the CAF had finally reached a point where it had taken action on all 10 recommendations,” the defence department said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

Julie S. Lalonde, a sexual violence educator who was briefed on the Path just prior to its release, said she was pleased when she saw in an embargoed copy an explicit mention of masculinity and its impact on the forces, only to be disappointed when the final version omitted the word completely.

“You cannot change what you won’t name, and masculinity is so fundamental to one’s experience of being in the military,” she said in an interview.

“If you don’t address the masculinity piece, you’re not going to address sexual violence clearly, or the raging racism, homophobia and transphobia.

“If they’re not willing to sit with that, then I think that’s quite telling about their lack of true commitment to seeing change happen.”

Eichler, one of the external experts who was consulted on the Path, said none of her substantive feedback was incorporated in the final document, including that there was not enough understanding in it as to why sexual misconduct was taking place, and that there was too much emphasis on individual behaviour and not enough on culture change.

The Path is currently undergoing another external review.

Jacques Gallant is a Toronto-based reporter covering politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @JacquesGallant