Sexual Assault & Sexual Misconduct in the CF

[George Wallace]

If the cadets of today are similar to those I had on my phase training at Gagetown back in 82, I'm not surprised.  They were, to a man with the one exception of a kid from CMR, the most disagreeable, arrogant SOB's I have ever had the displeasure to be stuck with.

Much the same in the '70's, but I must say that I did run into a few that were of solid character that went counter to the overall generalization of the product produced there.

 

[McG]

While it appears some in RMC attempted to reinforce to conclusions of the Deschamps report, some positive counterpoints are coming out of Fredericton/Gagetown.

Sexual misconduct in military not as bad as portrayed, says ex-base commander
Michael Staples
The Daily Gleaner
22 May 2015

The man who oversaw the introduction of women into combat roles in the Canadian military has concerns about a recent report on sexual misconduct in the Armed Forces.

Lewis MacKenzie, the commander of Base Gagetown and the Combat Training Centre in the late 1980s and into 1990, said he thinks the problem isn't as bad as portrayed in a report last month by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps.

"I'd bet my life on it - that it's not to the extent that one who was unfamiliar with the subject on reading of the report would surmise," MacKenzie said in an interview.

"I think the language was certainly over the top."

Deschamps's external review of sexual harassment in the army produced 10 recommendations, including that the military acknowledge that inappropriate sexual conduct is a problem and put a strategy in place to change the military's culture.

The report said there is an "undeniable problem of sexual harassment and sexual assault in the (Canadian Armed Forces), which requires direct and sustained action.

"Dismissive responses such as, 'This is just the way of the military' are no longer appropriate."

Defence Minister Jason Kenney said the military not only accepted her report but will also implement all of the recommendations.

The report also recommended an independent agency be set up outside the military chain of command to handle sexual misconduct complaints.

MacKenzie said there were concerns when the decision was made by the military to mix the sexes in combat roles, which included infantry, armoured, artillery and combat engineering.

"We discussed at the time that we were going to be putting people - at the height of the active hormone season for men and women - together, from the ages 17 to whatever it is, 30, depending on your age," he said. "And that we should anticipate some problems."

MacKenzie, a retired major-general, said his concerns lessened after he was posted to Sarajevo during the height of the war in the former Yugoslavia. At that time, he said, there were a lot of women in the military from Scandinavian countries and Britain.

"I realized my fear was unfounded in an operational theatre where, you would think that, next to wanting to stay alive, doing what comes naturally would be second on your priority list."

But MacKenzie said he's concerned these days when incidents of a sexual nature occur in a training environment, involving young recruits, especially if instructors take advantage of their positions of power.

The former base commander said it's his belief that sexual harassment occurs less frequently in the combat arms and among the front-line troops in the air force, army and navy, than elsewhere.

Katherine Greer-Hulme, a retired military sergeant who served more than 25 years in uniform, said she was harassed while in the Forces and it's a problem that needs to be addressed.

"Here in Gagetown especially - we're the largest training base in all of North America and this is where everybody comes to train - so there is going to be problems," Greer-Hulme said in an interview.

"It has to be addressed and people have to have an avenue to go to be able to voice their concerns. If you have people in authority that are not willing to speak to it or to listen, that's where the issues happen."

Greer-Hulme said she was generally harassed while she served and voiced her concerns about it to the chain of command.

But instead of having the alleged actions of the other party addressed, she was moved, she said.

"In my particular case, it wasn't dealt with the way it should be," she said. "I hope for soldiers coming up in today's army that, if a concern is raised, there is an avenue for them to voice their concerns."

Greer-Hulme said she didn't think the problem is any worse in the military than it is in the civilian world.

Marie LeLoup, a retired colonel who served at Base Gagetown, said her career ran smoothly.

"Speaking from personal experience, I saw very little that was inappropriate," LeLoup said in an email.

"The incidents that I did see were, in my view, appropriately addressed and lots of improvements were made over the years.

"I truly believed that Canadian men were light years ahead of other men in how they related to women as equals. I said that more than once and encouraged young women to join the CF."

She said she recently made similar comments on her Facebook page and was struck by the many remarks she received indicating there is a problem.

"I won't discount, diminish or deny these comments or experiences," she said. "So yes, it does occur and because it occurs, (it) is a problem."

LeLoup said she believes in the mechanisms that were established and saw them working well within the chain of command and with the right leadership.

"Improvements are necessary but I am not a fan of another and separate reporting/investigation system that further guts the chain of command," she said.

"In my view, it is a leadership issue that touches on every rank in the CF. If mixed gender leadership training has slipped over the years due to other priorities then it needs to be re-instated and beefed up.

"In light of the disturbing trends in society ... training, regarding what is acceptable and what is not, needs to be established at the recruit level and reinforced at every leadership course for officers and NCMs."

Retired colonel Ryan Jestin, another former Gagetown commander, said progress is being made in Canada's military to make life easier for women who choose the Armed Forces as a career.

During his three decades in uniform, Jestin said, he has witnessed huge changes in attitudes toward a fully integrated and non-gender specific military.

"Over that same period I saw women being accepted in all trades and classifications across the CAF, and a concerted effort to make the environment safe, unbiased and harassment free," Jestin said in an email.

But, he added, it would also be naive to assume that every military unit is completely accepting and non-biased toward women.

"I think, having now been on the other side as a civilian that, unfortunately, we all need to be cognisant of the reality that some folks still hold old thoughts of bias towards women in general and their rightful place in the workplace."

MacKenzie said the matter has now become a political issue and something will have to be done to demonstrate the government is taking the recommendations seriously.

"An outside body will be inevitable," he said.

"Even though it may not have a dramatic impact, it will satisfy most of the critics and that's why I say it's become a political issue."

 

[Jarnhamar]

Having lived in Kingston for a few years I don't have a relatively high opinion of RCM cadets (no offense to RMC grads present). The 3rd and 4th year cadets were particularly bad.  The story sounds pretty extreme but I can believe it.

That said I've also sat though the same kind of briefings that this one sounded like and it was basically a room full of guys being told they were all pretty much rapists and wife abusers waiting to find a victim. Naturally that's not going to sit well with everyone and inadvertently someone stands up and calls bullshit.  The official un-official direction is to just sit down shut up don't debate anything the speaker is saying and just wait until it's finished.

Having students sit in a mandatory brief like this over a weekend is poor planning since you're pretty much setting the speaker up for failure. 

If RMC students did make those comments or behave like that they should get hammered for it.

As for the cadets being annoyed about losing a Saturday, they would have known about this trg weekend well ahead of time.  The speaker's comment about that issue seems like she's trying to put blame on the school as opposed to the cadets themselves.

I'll just disagree a little bit.  I'm sure someone in the chain of command knew about this weekend training well in advance but I've seen this kind of stuff spring on members very last minute.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Way to set the standard RMC.  Working weekends is an injustice.  I recommend operations cease from 1600 Friday until 0800 Monday.

 

[kratz]

It's not suprising to see Ms. Lalonde's agenda when reading today's more in depth coverage of her story.

Julie Lalonde says she didn’t go public in October after she was subjected to cat-calls and harassment at the Royal Military College in Kingston — which had hired the outspoken advocate for sexual-assault prevention to speak to cadets — because she wasn’t convinced people would believe her.

But then the allegations and, later, criminal charges against former CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi surfaced, triggering, in her words, “a watershed moment” that changed the contemporary conversation about sexual assault and sexual violence directed at women.

“I really do believe that people are fed up with what’s going on, but I don’t think what happened to me was particularly unique,” she said Friday of the incident at RMC, for which school officials have now apologized.

“I think it was status quo for that institution, and the only thing that’s changed is our perspective on it.”

more at link...

I'm not disputing what may have happen, but the source, timing are suspect

 

[jollyjacktar]

Well you know, it's tough on Mount Olympus with all the other gods...

 

[Eye In The Sky]

It's not suprising to see Ms. Lalonde's agenda when reading today's more in depth coverage of her story.

more at link...

I think it is relevant to the issue despite optics.  If nothing happened then why issue an apology?

This...institution is supposed to developing the future leadership of the CAF, as a taxpayer I find it concerning these kinds of dingbats are even making it to third year.
I'm not disputing what may have happen, but the source, timing are suspect

 

[McG]

Court martial hears from victim of alleged sexual misconduct at RMC
GLORIA GALLOWAY
The Globe and Mail
22 May 2015

KINGSTON — In a makeshift courtroom at the Royal Military College this week, a Second Lieutenant in a blue military dress uniform recounted the night she says a fellow cadet – a man who was her friend and her superior – walked naked into her shower stall.

Her testimony, delivered mostly with confidence but occasionally punctuated by tears, revealed the turmoil she has endured in the aftermath of the incident – and the denunciation she faced from fellow cadets for her decision to lodge a sexual-assault complaint against her alleged assailant.

The ostracism was “unbearable,” said the officer, whose name is under a publication ban, and who was promoted to Second Lieutenant this month at the direction of the Chief of Defence Staff after the psychological trauma threatened to end her military career.

Other students were saying “it was something that should not have been reported, that it shouldn’t be taken that seriously,” she told the court martial of Officer Cadet Alex Whitehead, which is expected to continue at least through next week.

A wide-ranging review of sexual assault in the Canadian Armed Forces that was conducted by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps and made public on April 30 found there is an “underlying sexualized culture” in the military that is hostile to women – and the military colleges, where “sexual assault [is] an ever present risk,” are no exception.

The court martial of OCdt. Whitehead is one of the rare cases in which allegations of sexual misconduct at a military college are taken to college superiors and then land before a judge. And, when they do, the hearings are rarely attended by the media.

Studies say only a small fraction of military women who are assaulted choose to lodge a complaint – for the sake of their own careers, or the careers of the men who assaulted them, or out of fear of bringing disrepute on their army, navy or air force family. They also fear that the chain of command will be sympathetic and loyal to the accused.

Julie Lalonde, an expert on sexual assault with the Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres who was treated with open contempt and catcalls by RMC cadets when she spoke at the school last fall, says there is “an incredibly frightening culture on that campus … it is a hostile place to be a woman.”

Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel who is a lawyer who handles many military issues and is representing the complainant in this case, says he has nine other female clients who attended RMC who say they were also victims of sexual assault.

“The message of non-tolerance maybe exists at a higher echelon, where there is no presence of sexual misconduct on a larger scale,” said Mr. Drapeau. But it is not getting through to the cadets who are Canada’s future military leaders, he said. “It’s a real failure, and a failure that we should have addressed decades ago because there have been many warnings to that effect.”

RMC refused repeated requests for interviews.

The Second Lieutenant initially rescinded her complaint in the face of the criticism from fellow students. “I was still ashamed of what had happened,” she told the court. But, when a second female cadet told her she had been assaulted by OCdt. Whitehead, she was overwhelmed by the thought that “because I had not proceeded, there was a second victim.”

First she slit her wrists in a failed suicide attempt. Then she rallied. And now she and the other cadet have helped press criminal charges against OCdt. Whitehead.

The Second Lieutenant said OCdt. Whitehead was her friend for more than a year before things went wrong. One night in September, 2013, the two went with fellow cadets to a bar in Kingston, Ont. When she decided to leave early, she said OCdt. Whitehead offered to go back to the RMC barracks with her. She could smell the alcohol on his breath when they got in the cab.

Back at the college, he walked her to her room and asked to come inside, which she said she allowed because she is a member of a peer support group and she assumed he wanted to talk. But he didn’t want to talk, she said, he wanted to kiss her and, despite her protests, the two fell awkwardly onto her bed.

She scrambled from underneath him and “I told him I am going to take a shower and I want you to go to bed,” she told the court, explaining that she took her bathrobe and headed to the women’s showers where men are not allowed. But, with the water running, she saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror. And then, she said, he was in the shower with her.

She told the court she turned the water to hot – so hot it burned her back – and he left. For the next 15 minutes “I was in the shower, crouched in a little corner crying.”

OCdt. Whitehead, who, like his accusers, is in his early 20s, sat with a straight back as he listens to the testimony against him, casting only occasional glances at the witness box.

The petite Second Lieutenant did not look at him, either. The defence has signalled its intention to point out inconsistencies in her testimony and to raise the issue of her psychological state.

OCdt. Whitehead was a good person, and a good friend, and everybody makes mistakes, she told The Globe. “Even to this day,” she said, “I believe from the bottom of my heart, that the core, the morals that he has are good and it was due to alcohol and a lack of judgment in one moment that he made the mistake again.”

Major Edmund Thomas, one of the men who is acting as OCdt. Whitehead’s legal counsel, said the episode has been “devastating” for the young man who entered the military at the age of 18 and held so much promise. After four years at the college, OCdt. Whitehead was not permitted to graduate with the rest of his class and is now posted to do menial work on campus until the case is over. And, even if he is found not guilty, said Major Thomas, the military will do its own review where the burden of proof is much lower than that of the court martial.

All of this could have been prevented, said Mr. Drapeau, had the leaders at the RMC made clear it to students in year one that sexual assault would not be tolerated. Now, no matter what happens at the trial, OCdt. Whitehead’s career is likely to be affected.

The second officer who accused OCdt. Whitehead of sexual assault will testify next week. There is a long-term concern, she said, about how it will affect her life in the military.

“Everybody empathizes but that’s not what you want,” she said. As an officer, she said, “you want people to respect you. You don’t want that to be the first thing that gets to your unit. You are going to be leading troops and you don’t want to be doing it from a position of weakness.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/court-martial-hears-from-victim-of-alleged-sexual-misconduct-at-rmc/article24578934/

 

[George Wallace]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/court-martial-hears-from-victim-of-alleged-sexual-misconduct-at-rmc/article24578934/

Although I don't condone the actions that the OCdt is accused of, parts of this incident make me wonder if it has a root cause in our society.  Those who have served with or been exposed to foreign militaries, particularly the Nordic armies, can see the vast differences in our culture when it comes to the mix of men and women in various situations.  Nordic armies have many 'coed' aspects to the way they quarter their personnel, including ablution facilities.  Are we too "Puritanical" or prudish in our society, that it is the central factor in creating these problems?

 

[c_canuk]

“The message of non-tolerance maybe exists at a higher echelon, where there is no presence of sexual misconduct on a larger scale,” said Mr. Drapeau. But it is not getting through to the cadets who are Canada’s future military leaders, he said. “It’s a real failure, and a failure that we should have addressed decades ago because there have been many warnings to that effect.”

OCdt. Whitehead, who, like his accusers, is in his early 20s, sat with a straight back as he listens to the testimony against him, casting only occasional glances at the witness box.

The petite Second Lieutenant did not look at him, either. The defence has signalled its intention to point out inconsistencies in her testimony and to raise the issue of her psychological state.

OCdt. Whitehead was a good person, and a good friend, and everybody makes mistakes, she told The Globe. “Even to this day,” she said, “I believe from the bottom of my heart, that the core, the morals that he has are good and it was due to alcohol and a lack of judgment in one moment that he made the mistake again.”

Major Edmund Thomas, one of the men who is acting as OCdt. Whitehead’s legal counsel, said the episode has been “devastating” for the young man who entered the military at the age of 18 and held so much promise. After four years at the college, OCdt. Whitehead was not permitted to graduate with the rest of his class and is now posted to do menial work on campus until the case is over. And, even if he is found not guilty, said Major Thomas, the military will do its own review where the burden of proof is much lower than that of the court martial.

All of this could have been prevented, said Mr. Drapeau, had the leaders at the RMC made clear it to students in year one that sexual assault would not be tolerated. Now, no matter what happens at the trial, OCdt. Whitehead’s career is likely to be affected.

The second officer who accused OCdt. Whitehead of sexual assault will testify next week. There is a long-term concern, she said, about how it will affect her life in the military.

“Everybody empathizes but that’s not what you want,” she said. As an officer, she said, “you want people to respect you. You don’t want that to be the first thing that gets to your unit. You are going to be leading troops and you don’t want to be doing it from a position of weakness.”

So if I'm comprehending the article's message... it's not his fault he ignored the sexual harasment policy, ignored his fellow cadet's wishes he withdraw, ignored the no males allowed in the female showers rule and got naked into her stall. It's the fault of leadership not telling him sexual assaults are not tolerated, even though they did. He's a good moral young man who just wasn't told sexual assualt was wrong.

WTF am I reading?

If the details are correct,

1. He was told that sexual assault would not be tolerated, and now he's reaping what he sowed. This will further reinforce the rules to others within that institution.
2. A good moral person does not get naked and into the shower stall uninvited by someone who's instructed them to leave.
3. He shouldn't need to be told assaulting fellow cadets is wrong.
4. As for his career being affected, GOOD! We don't need leaders who break rules and assault their peers because they need to be repeatedly reminded that breaking the rules and assualting people is not allowed.

Has the world gone mad!?

 

[Edward Campbell]

:goodpost: c_canuk; and

To George Wallace, I don't think we need to "overthink" this; my guess is that it's about 99% the fault of a mix of immaturity, alcohol and hormones, in whatever order of importance ... the other 1% is the RMC's/the leadership's/society's fault.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Although I don't condone the actions that the OCdt is accused of, parts of this incident make me wonder if it has a root cause in our society.  Those who have served with or been exposed to foreign militaries, particularly the Nordic armies, can see the vast differences in our culture when it comes to the mix of men and women in various situations.  Nordic armies have many 'coed' aspects to the way they quarter their personnel, including ablution facilities.  Are we too "Puritanical" or prudish in our society, that it is the central factor in creating these problems?

I'm not sure if there is a direct correlation, but I can't help but note that Nordic societies do not have a great track record (since the 18th century at any rate) of avoiding conquest and occupation by foreign powers.

Although mutual respect, of which gender equality is an important part, is key to the success of any armed force I would not hold up the Norwegians et al as an example of military effectiveness to be emulated.

 

[The Bread Guy]

.... my guess is that it's about 99% the fault of a mix of immaturity, alcohol and hormones, in whatever order of importance ... the other 1% is the RMC's/the leadership's/society's fault.

Let's also not forget this bit:

.... The Second Lieutenant initially rescinded her complaint in the face of the criticism from fellow students ....

A lot of folks here rightly bashed CBC management for letting Gian G. get away with his antics by discouraging complaints in the face of "hey, he's a star", so I think RMC may be more than 1% responsible here.  It's one thing to say "don't do this - it's bad" and having that message accepted and incorporated.  I'm not saying RMC discouraged complaints, but if enough of the troops in question did so, it's another leadership fail.

 

[durhamcadet1]

Let's also not forget this bit:A lot of folks here rightly bashed CBC management for letting Gian G. get away with his antics by discouraging complaints in the face of "hey, he's a star", so I think RMC may be more than 1% responsible here.  It's one thing to say "don't do this - it's bad" and having that message accepted and incorporated.  I'm not saying RMC discouraged complaints, but if enough of the troops in question did so, it's another leadership fail.

The reported hesitation of the Second Lieutenant to bring this forward due to pressure from her fellow students is very concerning. One could argue that the unit could have pressured OCdt Whitehead to be accountable for his actions and not to criticize her complaint.  We do not have all of the details and only what has been reported. The reaction around this situation from her peer group does lead to suspect a greater cultural issue within RMC than just a poor judgment on an individual. This is disheartening to hear for female candidates currently in and planning to attend RMC.

 

[cupper]

Aaaaannd the Band Played On:

Julie Lalonde sees backlash after complaint about Royal Military College cadets

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/julie-lalonde-sees-backlash-after-complaint-about-royal-military-college-cadets-1.3086621

A sex-assault prevention educator says she's receiving a backlash of nasty and abusive emails and tweets after publicly complaining that she was verbally abused by Royal Military College officer cadets she had been invited to speak to last fall.

"If me talking about having been harassed compels you to write me an email telling me that I am human garbage and deserve to die, I think you're proving my point," Julie Lalonde told CBC News.

Lalonde said she had been asked to speak to approximately 1,000 undergraduate students in groups of about 250. All of the students had been ordered to give up a weekend day off to attend the session.

The cadets were the most hostile audience she'd had in a career of speaking about sexual assault prevention, Lalonde said.

She complained about being whistled at, cat-called, laughed at and openly disrespected by the officer cadets. She was able after five months to secure an apology from the school's commandant, Brig.-Gen. Al Meinzinger.

Lalonde went public with her experience, which resulted in a flurry of criticism. Following an interview with Radio Canada, Lalonde said she got "a detailed threat telling me to kill myself."

She said another person wrote: "If you are to comment about sexual harassment, you need to be able to handle it when it comes your way."

​Lalonde's complaints come in the wake of the release of a report by Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps. Deschamps found the military possessed a sexualized culture in which harassment and assault were underreported and often overlooked.​​

'Culture of silence'

Deschamps, along with  Maj.-Gen. Christine Whitecross, who was appointed to lead the military's response team to the report, appeared before a House standing committee on national defence Monday. NDP defence critic Jack Harris mentioned Lalonde's incident and raised concerns that Canadians' sons and daughters who join the military will be protected from criminal acts and harassment.

"I think my experience of not only having been harassed, but having been harassed for speaking out about it, I think proves the Deschamps report about how there's a culture of silence," Lalonde said.

"And there's a culture of misogyny and sexism. So much of the response I've gotten is very gendered. It isn't just 'I disagree with you' or 'I don't think you should be speaking out.' It's very clearly gendered. it's very clearly sexist. It's very clearly 'as a woman you're disgusting. I can't believe you would even think you would have the right to speak out on these issues.'"

The attacks have been very personal, she said, not from people seeking stats or questioning her approach.

A common response has been "I might've listened to you if you weren't a woman," she said.

Meanwhile, a number of cadets who took part in the lecture have accused Lalonde of being provocative and baiting and suggesting that RMC men had a "rapist" culture across the board. Lalonde has denied this, and stated emphatically on Twitter that she "did not in any way, shape or form imply that all men are rapists."

 

[George Wallace]

Aaaaannd the Band Played On:

Julie Lalonde sees backlash after complaint about Royal Military College cadets

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/julie-lalonde-sees-backlash-after-complaint-about-royal-military-college-cadets-1.3086621

I would hope that no more than a couple people are actually so stupid as to do this.

It does make for sensational news in the media, whether it is true or false.  "If it bleeds, it leads."  And the media is notorious for this, and often slow or even negligent in retracting false claims.

 

[dapaterson]

I would hope that no more than a couple people are actually so stupid as to do this.

It does make for sensational news in the media, whether it is true or false.  "If it bleeds, it leads."  And the media is notorious for this, and often slow or even negligent in retracting false claims.

Two RMC Officer Cadets began court-martials for sexual assault last week.  That's not a problem with the media.  It's not sensationalism.  It's indicative of an institutional problem that needs to be addressed - and for a need to stop pointing fingers everywhere else but at the institution with the problems.

http://decisia.jmc-cmj.forces.gc.ca/jmc-cmj/cm/en/item/100393/index.do

http://decisia.jmc-cmj.forces.gc.ca/jmc-cmj/cm/en/item/100291/index.do

 

[PuckChaser]

How many of these incidents involve alcohol? Is it time that RMC went dry? Or certain years are not allowed out?

 

[George Wallace]

Two RMC Officer Cadets began court-martials for sexual assault last week.  That's not a problem with the media.  It's not sensationalism.  It's indicative of an institutional problem that needs to be addressed - and for a need to stop pointing fingers everywhere else but at the institution with the problems.

http://decisia.jmc-cmj.forces.gc.ca/jmc-cmj/cm/en/item/100393/index.do

http://decisia.jmc-cmj.forces.gc.ca/jmc-cmj/cm/en/item/100291/index.do

I was referring to people being so stupid as to email Ms Lalonde after the initial story was published of her treatment, and making that into a media circus, whether it was factual or not; not on the problems at RMC.   

 

[OldSolduer]

How many of these incidents involve alcohol? Is it time that RMC went dry? Or certain years are not allowed out?

I know where you might be going with this. I would not encourage any unit to go dry, nor would I decree that cadets be kept apart from civilians.
Education on relationships, alcohol awareness briefs, and since RMC Is supposed to be producing future leaders have senior cadets brief and supervise the junior ones.
Then hold them accountable for their actions. There is no excuse for harassment, sexual or otherwise.