It’s heartening to see the new commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force come out swinging against sexual harassment. Let’s hope his words bring concrete results. A change of attitude in Canada’s military is long overdue.
Lt.-Gen. Michael Hood used his swearing-in ceremony last week to declare that sexual harassment will not be tolerated on his watch.
“I’ll be sending a very clear message to my subordinate commanders that harassment of any sort, be it sexual or otherwise, has no place in the RCAF or for that matter throughout the entire Canadian Armed Forces,” Hood said at the ceremony that saw him take over command of the air force from retiring Lt.-Gen. Yvan Blondin.
Hood said he will convene a meeting of the air force senior leadership in the near future, and the harassment issue will be a principal focus.
Last year, following many complaints from members of the armed forces, retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps was asked to conduct an external review of sexual misconduct and harassment in the armed forces. Her report, released in April, found that the Canadian military was ridden with a misogynistic and sexualized culture, and that harassment and abuse were overlooked and under-reported.
Deschamps was told “there is not a female who has not had a problem” since joining the military, and yet most were afraid to complain for fear of repercussions, including being hampered in their careers or removed from their units. Reports have been received of abuse ranging from sexual jokes to inappropriate touching to sexual assault, with a chain of command largely blind to the issue.
The most prominent of Deschamps’s 10 recommendations was the formation of an agency independent of the chain of command to receive complaints and provide support to victims of harassment. Gen. Tom Lawson, the chief of defence staff, agreed to that recommendation for a new entity in principle, but would only commit to creating a centralized system to handle complaints.
Lawson deepened skepticism about the military’s commitment to change when he said during an interview that men are “biologically wired in a certain way and there will be those who believe it is a reasonable thing to press themselves and their desires on others. It’s not the way it should be.”
“Much as we would very much like to be absolutely professional in everything we do, and I think by and large we are, there will be situations and have been situations where, largely, men will see themselves as able to press themselves onto our women members.”
His comments created a national furor and he later apologized for his “awkward characterization.” Regardless of what he meant to say, it sounded too much like “boys will be boys” or “that’s just the way men are.”
Primal instincts are no excuse for anyone’s inappropriate behaviour, let alone people in uniform who are supposed to be disciplined and well-trained.
Maj.-Gen. Chris Whitecross, the top-ranking woman in the armed forces, is leading the effort to effect a change in culture. She has her work cut out for her, but her job might have been easier had Lawson erupted in thunder and damnation, rather than pussyfooting around with some sort of biological explanation.
This must stop, he should have said firmly. That’s an order. Disobey that order and you will suffer the consequences.
Let’s hope Lawson’s successor, Lt.-Gen. Jonathan Vance, who assumes command this summer, will emulate Hood’s forthright approach, and that strong words will be backed by firm actions. Those who defend the country’s borders should also, by example and otherwise, defend its values and principles.
