Five things to know about the military’s fight against sexual misbehaviour

By The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, issued a progress report on Monday into the Canadian military’s effort to fight inappropriate sexual behaviour within its ranks. Here are five things to know about the report.

ORIGINS: A hard-hitting report last year by Marie Deschamps, retired justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, outlined the scope of sexual misconduct in the Forces and urged efforts to fight the problem. Vance’s latest report details how the military responded to the issue between June and December of last year.

FIRST STEPS: Vance began with talks with senior leaders. He told them that commanders would be held responsible for violations of proper behaviour. In September, the military established a response centre outside of the chair of command to field phone calls, emails and texts from those who have experienced inappropriate behaviour. In its first months of operation, the centre was contacted 246 times by 204 individuals, three-quarters of them members of the Forces.

COMPLAINTS: Of the 246 contacts, 53 dealt with sexual assaults, 32 were about sexual harassment and 99 were seeking information about the various services available from the response centre.

THE RESPONSE: The military provost marshal, essentially the police chief of the Forces, is bringing in new procedures and technology to help military police understand the extent of sexual misconduct and improve the handling of complaints. The police have also opened eight investigations into allegations that surfaced from the complaint line.

OTHER ACTIONS: The military is in the process of developing simple, broad definitions of what constitutes sexual harassment. It has held town hall meetings and briefings with leaders and soldiers to discuss the problem. It has issued so-called “soldier cards” which outline unacceptable behaviour, including perpetuating stereotypes, offensive remarks, verbal abuse and exploitation of power relationships.

QUOTE: “I will not allow harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour within our organization and I shall hold all leaders in the Canadian Armed Forces accountable for failures that permit its continuation.” — Gen. Jonathan Vance.

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