Military sexual assault policy must include civilians, ombudsman says

Canada's military ombudsman says the Canadian Armed Forces can't truly get serious about stopping sexual assault in the workplace until surveys and policies include the thousands of civilians who work alongside men and women in uniform.

Statistics Canada released a new study on Monday that found 960 full-time members, or some 1.7 per cent of the regular force, reported sexual assault in the past year.

That report, however, didn't take into account the 25,000 civilian employees who also work at military bases and Department of National Defence (DND) offices across Canada and may also face sexual misconduct on the job. 

The survey is not as holistic as it should be- Gary Walbourne, Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman

"The survey is not as holistic as it should be," said Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman Gary Walbourne. 

"For me, that's a cause of concern. We've got to get this survey to cover all members of the defence community, I think, if we're going to bring real value back from that."

Those thoughts are echoed by John MacLennan, the president of the Union of National Defence Employees, who says public servants in the military are treated like second-class citizens.

"If you have sexual harassment in the workplace, it doesn't matter who is doing it. It's a poisoned environment and everyone is going to be affected," MacLennan said.

"The civilians are not being looked at the same way that military are. There's two different sets of rules. We know it's not being taken seriously [for civilians] because of the long process it takes to get the investigation done."

Years for cases to be heard

It can take two or three years for civilians' sexual harassment and assault grievances to wind their way through a system that's different than the military's process, according to MacLennan. His office is currently representing four public servants with DND who have been waiting years for their grievances to be adjudicated. 

"The members we represent say, 'When is this going to end, because every day I get up, I'm reliving it. There's no closure for me because the process is ongoing,''" said MacLennan.

MacLennan points to one case where a civilian alleged she was sexually harassed two years ago by her military supervisor.

The high-ranking officer allegedly touched the woman inappropriately and then asked her in writing for sexual contact, MacLennan said. But when she refused, there were repercussions at work — with the woman receiving degrading comments, MacLennan said, and lousy evaluation reports.

She's now on disability insurance, he added, and the military member still has his job.

"When you see people being removed from the workplace because [they] filed a complaint, [they] were sexually harassed, that's wrong," MacLennan said. "That's what usually happens — we'll send you home with pay, you've been home long enough that now you have to go on sick leave."

Civilians considered 'second priority'

Veteran's advocate Sean Bruyea in Ottawa successfully defended a master's thesis on military culture, and says it's discouraging that the Canadian Forces continues to look down on civilians. 

"The military has long diminished complaints of civilian members and made them a second priority," said Bruyea. "Unfortunately, this spreads into the grievances process and [civilians] aren't given the same rights."

Being called a civilian is "one of the worst insults" military members can receive, said Bruyea — indicative of a culture where civilians aren't as trusted, he said.

Bruyea said he wants to see an independent body investigate both military and civilian sexual misconduct complaints. 

Canada's top soldier is vowing to punish or expel all abusive perpetrators from the military in the wake of the Statistics Canada survey.

Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff, said he is "extremely disappointed" that members have defied his explicit commands under Operation Honour targeting inappropriate sexual behaviour. 

"My orders were clear, my expectations were clear," said Vance, chief of the defence staff, calling the survey results "regrettably" sobering. 

'Pounding the drum'

Walbourne, meanwhile, told CBC News he wants to see more of these sexual misconduct surveys conducted — with the addition of civilians' experiences to determine if the military is indeed moving forward. 

Walbourne said there have been a couple positive steps taken by the military, including a new position on its sexual offence response team that's dedicated to investigating criminal sexual offences throughout both DND and the Armed Forces.

The team is also now expanding its services, said Walbourne, to accept calls from civilians and cadets. 

"Everybody's got to be included if we're going to find out exactly what we're dealing with," said Walbourne. "Since the beginning of this, we've been pounding the drum that we've got to include all members of the community."