OTTAWA – For lt.col. Eleanor Taylor was the last straw. The simultaneous investigations of the Canadian army’s top commander and his predecessor, which were announced last month, led her to write a burning letter of resignation from the army reserve after more than 26 years of service.
“I am sick of ongoing investigations into sexual misconduct among our key leaders,” Colonel Taylor, one of the highest-ranking women in the Canadian military and a combat veteran of Afghanistan, wrote in an email she sent on March 13. sent to military officials. “Unfortunately, I am not surprised. I am also sure that the extent of the problem has not yet been exposed. Throughout my career, I have observed treacherous and inappropriate use of force for sexual exploitation. ”
Nearly six years after a government report found that Canada’s military was ‘hostile to women and LGBTQ members and conducive to more serious incidents of sexual harassment and assault’, the inquiry into the agency’s top leaders veterans are shaken, done to address such systemic and widespread problems within the ranks.
“Changes have taken place on a superficial level, but without really disrupting the core of military culture,” Stéfanie von Hlatky, director of the Center for International and Defense Policy, told Queen’s University about the reforms that will take place after 2015. s report was made. “The release of Colonel Taylor’s letter allows for a greater opening for talks where the military culture will be looked at more closely, as opposed to a bunch of initiatives.”
In February, military police launched separate investigations into Canada’s top military officer, Adm. Art McDonald, and the former chief of defense staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, who held the post until his retirement from the Army in January.
Little has been said about the investigations, although reports surfaced last month that General Vance had acted improperly with two female subordinates. Admiral McDonald stepped down from his position while the investigation was ongoing.
More than a quarter of women in the Canadian military have been sexually assaulted during their careers, a government survey found in 2016, and less than one in four respondents reported the assault. At the time, the findings rejected calls by military leaders, including General Vance, to do more to encourage victims of assault to come forward.
Many members of the service now say that the program that General Vance launched during his tenure to end sexual misconduct was inadequate and was completely undermined by the current investigation into his actions.
Colonel Taylor and others called on maids and veterans to share their experiences.
“It took me quite a few years to get here, but I now strongly believe that we have a problem with our culture that allows inappropriate sexual behavior and hateful behavior,” she wrote in her email to members was sent from the army. “I also came to the conclusion that we do not have the necessary tools to address that behavior.”
Earlier this month, a parliamentary hearing on military sexual assault and harassment stressed that no investigative body, independent of the order for victims of sexual assault or harassment – despite the fact that the military improved its complaint process in 2019 and set aside nearly one billion Canadian dollars to settle claims of sexual misconduct.
The trials also revealed that allegations of misconduct were made against General Vance three years ago when he was still the head of the defense staff, but this did not lead to a formal investigation.
Gary Walbourne, the former ombudsman for the Canadian military, told a House committee that in March 2018 he had received an informal complaint about General Vance about ‘inappropriate sexual behavior’. Unsure of how to proceed, he said he had sought advice from Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s defense minister and a former military officer who served in Afghanistan, who refused to review the details of the charge.
Mr. Sajjan later testified that he refused to look at Walbourne’s evidence to make sure any investigation was free of political interference. Mr. Sajjan had his staff inform the Secret Council office, the central branch of the civil service, about the complaints. This apparently abandoned the issue after Mr. Walbourne did not provide details, citing his confidentiality agreement with the victim.
Leah West, a former armored officer who is currently an assistant professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, said she was sexually assaulted in 2008 by a senior officer during a party. She was found unconscious the next day, and the military police called. They referred the matter to her commander.
“He asked me the question that I think too many women are in the Canadian forces, being asked if something like this happens: ‘How do you want me to handle this? ‘, Tell Professor West. “By asking the victim how you want to proceed, it is very unlikely that a woman, especially in a combat arm, and in this case, where the person was my parent, would have to say, ‘Throw the book at him. , sir. ”
Today, she said the military’s chronic problems with sexual misconduct will only be solved by a comprehensive change in military culture and a generational change.
“I think it now requires courageous action,” she said. “Those who would stand in the way of that daring action must get out of the way and get out of power.”
The two investigations could cause a number of senior officers with a problematic past to retire earlier than they had planned, she says. It provides opportunities for the advancement of women and men who, in her experience, are ‘morally indestructible’.
Professor West said she had already been contacted by an infantry leader for advice on how to deal with the issues in Colonel Taylor’s letter.
Another retired member of the infantry, Dawn Dussault, who led an army convoy platoon in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010, is also looking for a major change in military culture, though she is less optimistic that it is possible. . “Rape is one aspect, but there were so many other things that did so much psychological damage to women, just as the whole system was broken,” she said.
She says the rise of extremist extremism among younger members of the military ranks does not give her much hope that the next generation of military leaders will be different from the previous one.
“If more women speak out, it will change,” she said. “I do not know.”