Soldiers complain of sexual misconduct

Eight criminal investigations launched as military establishes call centre

OTTAWA— Dozens of Canadian military personnel have reached out to a newly established call centre to report incidents of sexual misconduct and formal criminal investigations have been launched into eight of those complaints, the military revealed Monday.

The Sexual Misconduct Response Centre was established last September in response to a damning report that concluded that systemic harassment was widespread in the armed forces and that military personnel had little faith to come forward to report inappropriate, even criminal behaviour.

In a progress report made public Monday, the military said 156 Cana- dian forces members had made contact with the centre in its first four months of operation.

Gen. Jonathan Vance, the chief of the defence staff, said the fact that people are reaching out to the centre is a “good thing.”

“People are contacting the centre. It’s being used,” Vance said in an interview Monday. “If a victim calls the centre and wants there to be an investigation, there will be an investigation.”

The centre is meant to be a point of contact outside of the chain of command for members of the Canadian forces who have experienced sexual harassment or abuse.

Since it began operations last September, 204 individuals have made contact, with an almost equal split between men and women. Of those, 156 were military personnel. Almost 100 of them were seeking information about the centres’ services; 53 made contact about a sexual of- fence and 32 about sexual harassment.

Ahard-hitting report by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps released last year found a “sexualized culture” within the Canadian Armed Forces that is “hostile” to women as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.

That produced an environment that is conducive to harassment and assault, often with commanders either turning a blind eye to the disturbing conduct or condoning it, she found.

Monday’s report said the military is making “good” progress. Training and education is being beefed up. Commanders have acknowledged that inappropriate sexual behaviour is a “serious problem” within the forces, it said.

The military has also asked Statistics Canada to survey defence personnel on inappropriate sexual behaviour to “more accurately deter- mine the scope of the problem.” “The emphasis must now be on proactively and systematically transforming the culture of the Armed Forces,” the report said. “The way ahead will be challenging and the level of effort required is significant.”

Vance took over the military’s top post in July and quickly launched OP Honour, a formal mission to “eliminate harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour” within the ranks.

Vance told the Star he is “satisfied” that the armed forces has made a start on the issue.

“We’re opening ourselves up to the criticism that we deserve. It’s gone quite badly within the armed forces to this point. We’re trying to fix it. It’s reasonable that culture change takes time,” Vance said.

But he said that the formal effort to stamp out sexual misconduct within the forces will never end.

“OP Honour will never be done. OP Honour goes forever. The success will largely be declared by my people, those who are in the armed forces,” Vance said.

The progress report says the military is putting a new emphasis on the victims of sexual misconduct. And Vance said that while he has to respect arm’s length investigations, he made clear he has zero tolerance for the perpetrators.

“I’ve made it clear and will continue to make it clear that you abide by OP Honour, you treat people well, or you need to leave the armed forces. I don’t want these kind of people.”

Vance also said he is committed to recruiting more women into the military. The armed forces has a target that 25 per cent of its personnel are women. Women make up15 per cent to 17 per cent of the ranks now.

Vance said more women will help change the military’s culture.

“I want more women in leadership positions. I want more women in the armed forces,” he told the Star.