Senior civil servants of the Ministry of Defense claim that Ottawa failed to properly implement reports of sexual misconduct
The Canadian Deputy Minister of Defense said that the military’s action to end sexual misconduct in his ranks was “lost” because the government failed to properly implement the recommendations in the landmark report published six years ago.
Jody Thomas said she did not work for the Department of Defense in 2015, when former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps issued a severe report on sexual misconduct.
But Thomas said her “observation” was to treat Deschamps’ report as a list. She said the government did not “really” implement it-the military has been reluctant to say it.
Thomas said: “The civilian department of the department did not give it the necessary supervision. Therefore, in terms of supervision, I am a member of the department.” Said in an interview with CBC trend With Matt Galloway.
“I think there is very little to be done to make the report look like a response without any actual changes. There are no structural changes, no legislative changes, no external departments, no reports from the Canadian Armed Forces. , Mrs. Deschamps emphasized this kind of thing.”
Break the military message
Thomas’ comments are in stark contrast to the comments the military told Congress last month.
Brigadier General Professional Military Conduct Director Andrew Atherton (Andrew Atherton) told members of Congress that all the recommendations in the Deschamps report have been fulfilled when investigating sexual misconduct in the armed forces.
Atherton said on April 15: “From our perspective, we think we have implemented all these 10 recommendations.”
Thomas told Galloway that it was time to confess.
Thomas said: “My observation is that it is almost treated as a list, and I think it’s time for us to be honest about it.”
The statement clearly acknowledges that the Department of Defense has failed to deal with sexual misconduct.
Having said that, Thomas did say that she would not describe the characteristics of “Operation Honor,” which is an activity that the military has now canceled to eliminate sexual misconduct. “It ended in complete failure” on the grounds that “Sexual Behavior” The establishment of “misconduct response centers” and the increase in reports.
The second former Supreme Court justice leads the review
Thomas gave a long interview trend, The aircraft will be broadcast at 8:30 am local time on Tuesday, hosted by Lt.-Gen Wayne Eyre, Chief of Staff of the Canadian Ministry of Defense. This is one of their first in-depth interviews with the media since the crisis of sexual misconduct broke out this year.
Eyre replaced Art McDonald, who resigned from the top position in a survey in February Sexual misconduct request.McDonald’s succeeded General Jonathan Vance, who was also under investigation by military police Claims of misconduct -He told Global News that he denied the allegations. Several other senior leaders were also liquidated.
Eyre reiterated his message that in the past few decades, the military has “failed to properly resolve” sexual misconduct. He called this an “existing problem” that might make the military “irrelevant” in society. If the military is not fixed, it will not be able to defend the country.
The federal government has instructed another former Supreme Court justice, Louise Arbour, to lead the external review, based on the Deschamps report, and implement a reporting mechanism outside of the military command system.
Al said: “We need to have this and see it as an opportunity to truly change our organization.” He added that the military should not be defensive in adopting recommendations.
Al admits that he is still questioning why in his nearly 37-year career, he has never seen any wrongdoing or performance worse in the military.
He said: “I have been racking my brains.” “I questioned what I didn’t see, what was not registered…I hope I have these problems, and have some common sense and understanding that I have now.”
“This is an infringement of a person’s professional identity”
Al said that the crisis of sexual misconduct is a challenge for him.
He said: “It’s difficult, because thinking that a person thinks they are part of an organization is an attack on a person’s professional identity, and you don’t fully understand some aspects of it.”
Watch | The Secretary of Defense says the crisis of sexual misconduct is an “existing problem” for the Canadian military
General Wayne Ayre, Acting Chief of Staff of the Canadian Department of Defense, said that if institutional reforms are not implemented to address sexual misconduct within his purview, the armed forces may become irrelevant to society. 1:00
Al said that retiring to retirement is easy. But he said he hopes to make a difference. “I understand that my awareness of moral legitimacy has weakened because I am part of this generation, and our generation has not made the necessary changes.”
When asked why the military’s sexualized culture continues to exist despite years of disclosure and attempts to change it, he said that he did not have a complete answer.
“Is there a need for dynamics, do we need to have a better understanding of the use and abuse of power?” he said. “Is it the exclusive aspect of certain parts of the culture that I talked about earlier? I don’t know.”
Power and abuse of power
Thomas said she thought it was “about power” and “about abuse of power.”
Thomas said: “Right now, the media pays too much attention to senior officials. I understand why people question senior leaders.”
“They have the longest time. The press has been discussing history. There are no excuses. I have no excuses at all.”
Thomas said that there is a “big cadre” composed of moral officials, leaders and noncommissioned officers, who are doing their best to develop with the development of society. She said that since joining the Navy 35 years ago, when she publicly posted female nude photos on the ship, she said she had seen the development of female culture.
Thomas said, but the military needs to stop “covering up speech, including harmful and inappropriate behavior,” and keep it as it is.
She said: “This is inappropriate behavior.” “Or it’s criminal activity and rape. We have to start calling it things because it changes the culture. It’s easy to hide behind things like harmful behavior.” “
Thomas said that Arbour’s review is needed because if the military simply adopts the existing system and moves it outside the department, it will not be able to solve certain problems.
Thomas said: “This will not solve the problem of retaliation.” “Because the chain of command is still involved, some issues cannot be resolved.”