Were you hoping – finally – for change on the issue of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces? Maybe you shouldn’t read Louise Arbor’s report on this.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
The observation of this renowned jurist is distressing.
In this new report, we are still talking about the toxic and sexist culture of the Armed Forces in the country.
It is further confirmed that “many women experience harassment and discrimination on a daily basis”.
And we still see that some members of the armed forces, especially women, “have more to fear, day to day, from their colleagues than from enemy combatants”.
We warned you, it’s demoralizing. But wait, that’s not all.
As part of this remarkably rigorous “independent internal review” hundreds of interviews were conducted. And quotes are used in some places in the report which, on paper, have the effect of overwhelming evidence.
One woman quoted, for example, said that within the Armed Forces, a man “can be seen as stoic and energetic while a woman is seen as a bitch”. And this woman to clarify: “Earlier in my career, I was told that I had three choices: to be a slut, a bitch or a dyke. »
There are also comments from former senior officers that show how the will to change is almost non-existent. One said that the expression used in the Armed Forces was that we simply had to “add women to the equation”. Another reports that it was especially important “to appear to act”.
What is most worrying is that this independent review comes after a number of other investigations, reports and recommendations which obviously did not yield much.
It’s embarassing. And let’s just say it raises some doubts about the fate of the new report. Recall that seven years ago, that of judge Marie Deschamps had been showered with praise, but had remained practically without follow-up.
The issue was raised Monday in Ottawa. Defense Minister Anita Anand responded in a firm tone, weighing her words. “This report will not be shelved,” she said before extolling its merits.
Louise Arbour’s work, which recommends, among other things, that all complaints of sexual misconduct and harassment be removed from the military justice system, has been described as a roadmap by the minister.
She also argued that the team in place – she named Chief of the Defense Staff Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister Bill Matthews – would make a difference.
But it is plausibly Anita Anand herself who is likely to make the biggest difference. She has enjoyed an excellent reputation in Ottawa since her time as Minister of Public Services and Procurement in the midst of a pandemic. And she also seems to show a mixture of determination and dynamism since her arrival at La Défense.
She will have a lot to do.
His predecessor, Harjit Sajjan, broke his teeth on this file. Under his leadership, while we were talking publicly about the need to change the culture, sexual misconduct scandals continued to multiply, implicating several high-ranking soldiers.
Like what to trust only the leaders of the Armed Forces to change the situation would be to show angelism. And the Liberal government certainly cannot be taken at its word on this file.
Minister Anand announced on Monday that the implementation of 17 of the report’s 48 recommendations had already begun and that an external controller would be appointed, as requested by Louise Arbour, to oversee the implementation of all of the report’s content. . This one could be promised a brighter future thanks to this idea.
The winning conditions may not all be met for a necessary culture change. Still, there are enough of them this time to be cautiously optimistic.