(Ottawa) The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) face new demands to grant an exception to victims of sexual misconduct, and to colleagues in whom they confide, so that they no longer have to report an incident to their supervisor immediate.
The request is part of a list containing dozens of recommendations and included in a report released Tuesday, nearly two years after a series of consultations with survivors and officers.
The government agreed to these consultations as part of a 600 million compensation agreement with victims of sexual misconduct in the military and the Department of National Defense.
The “duty to report” rule compels members of the Armed Forces to report any type of inappropriate or criminal behavior, sexual or otherwise, to a superior, which involves a formal complaint process.
According to the report of the Survivor Support Advisory Group, this famous duty to report has been “a recurring subject of concern” during its work. An observation that echoes previous criticisms denouncing the fact of forcing victims and their confidants to report assaults to their superior when they do not want to or do not feel ready.
“Currently, all members of the CAF are required by a regulatory obligation to report any misconduct, including sexual misconduct,” read the report of the committee, which included among its members three plaintiffs involved in class actions against the army and three active soldiers.
The repercussions of the duty to report “are of particular concern […] on survivors’ autonomy in deciding, when and how to report their experiences, as well as deciding and how to find support after an incident, ”the committee wrote.
The current rule also contains inconsistencies regarding “chaplains and their ability to provide confidential support to survivors”. According to the current version of the rule, only Catholic priests are exempt from this mandatory disclosure, but only if the information is revealed to them “under the seal of confession”.
Moreover, the report recalls that this is not the first time that concerns have been raised about this obligation to report. It is reported that the “It’s Not Just 700” advocacy group and the Auditor General previously unsuccessfully denounced the same issue.
According to the report, the duty to report should be limited to cases where there is a “risk of imminent danger, (a) danger to children (or to) national security”.
And while the military has always refused to change its stance on the duty to report misconduct, Lieutenant-General Jennie Carignan, responsible for bringing about the culture change in the CAF, has indicated that a change may well be established.
“We are working on a policy on this subject,” she said in an update on the progress of her work.
Among the 45 recommendations of the report, we find measures to better integrate survivors in the development of solutions to sexual misconduct.
In a written response to the report, Chief of Staff Wayne Eyre and Deputy Minister of Defense Jody Thomas indicated that several recommendations are already being implemented, while other measures will be assessed in due course. .
However, they did not explicitly mention the “duty to report” in their response.