Sexual Assault in the Military: What are the Forces Doing?

By Sara Girardi

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Three weeks ago, my best friend got a call—he was to leave for basic training in nine days. In those nine days I researched as much as I could about the Canadian Forces and came across an issue that I did not want to believe: sexual assault is an ongoing problem within the military. Because I had never heard about this issue, I thought it was an important topic to share.

Sexual assault in the Canadian Forces is a very common issue which affects all those who are enlisted, including the Canadian Cadet Organization. The scope of the problem was first addressed in 1998 in Maclean’s magazine, and since then individual cases have continued to be reported both privately and in Canadian media. The issue was further brought to light in an exposé published by Maclean’s in 2014, which questioned whether or not the military was taking action against its rape culture.

The Forces claim to take these assault cases seriously; however, data outlines an assault rate of 5 individuals per day. According to information collected through Canada’s Access to Information Act, the military has received between 134 and 201 assault complaints every year since 2000. Further, that the majority of rape cases are not reported: it is estimated that only one in ten cases are brought to the authorities. This means that there is a total of approximately 1,780 sexual assaults every year within the Canadian Forces alone.

One particularly famous case of assault within the military is that of Russell Williams. Williams was a Colonel in the Canadian Forces from July 2009 until his arrest in February 2010. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murders, two counts of forcible confinement, two counts of breaking and entering, and sexual assault. During a 10-hour interrogation, he confessed and described his crimes while telling law enforcement where they could find evidence and hidden keepsakes.

While he locations of William’s crimes were not well outlined, most military assaults are thought to take place in the garrisons where the soldiers live in close quarters during their training. In the last decade, Ontario’s own Borden military base had the highest number of reported sexual assault complaints. After this, the Gagetown base in New Brunswick, and the Kingston base that houses the Royal Military College of Canada, were both in the top five, with the Valcartier base in Québec being listed as the fifth.

The majority of these incidents have been described as men attacking women, though this is not always the case. In most of these instances, women are awoken during the night by aggressors that sneak into their sleeping quarters. Cases have also been reported during dinners in mess rooms, on army ships, in training tents, in the barracks’ laundry room, during deployment, and during drill training. After reading about these cases, I found myself questioning how the Forces were trying to prevent further assaults from happening.

It turns out that in 2014, after the publishing of the aforementioned exposé, the Government of Canada announced an external review of the rape culture and assault crisis within the Forces. A former Supreme Court of Canada Justice conducted the review, which has since received international coverage. In 2015, the Canadian military launched Operation Honour to help combat sexual assault and sexual misconduct within its ranks. Further information regarding this operation can be found on the Government of Canada website.

Since then, the military has launched reviews in response to a Globe and Mail investigation on sexual assault cases that were deemed unfounded. As a result, 179 cases closed as unfounded were reviewed and 23 were re-opened. On top of that, another 43 were reclassified to provide a more accurate representation of the findings of the investigation.

Reports of sexual assault have since dramatically increased, which the Forces say is proof that efforts to stop this behavior are having a positive impact, instead of evidence that there are more crimes happening. The head of the military’s sexual misconduct response team has suggested that these numbers actually represent progress in the Forces’ commitment to eliminate sexual assault. The team has stated that the increased reporting indicates that people are more comfortable coming forward. With this said, it is still important to ask if the military is doing enough to stop sexual assault from happening. Should we expect to see less assault in the military, or will it merely receive less coverage in the years to come? The Forces have yet to comment on these thoughts.