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Sexual misconduct rife in Canadian military, new report says

CANADA’S military is failing women with a culture that has entrenched sexual abuse and misogyny, according to a damning report released on Monday. 

It described a broken system that is a liability to the country.

Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour made 48 recommendations that were necessary to clean up the toxic culture of sexism in the country’s armed forces. 

Defence Minister Anita Ananad told a press conference that the government would implement 17 of the recommendations and will assess the rest. 

“If we do not take this moment for what it is and implement the recommendations that identify deep areas of need for change in the Canadian armed forces and the defence team broadly, we run the risk of not being a fully effective military domestically and internationally,” she said.

“We must grab the bull by the horns and make these changes now.”

In April 2021, the Canadian military reported to the House of Commons 581 sexual assaults and 221 incidents of sexual harassment, which took place in 2015. 

The Canadian government apologised for its incompetence in dealing with the handling of cases involving rape, sexual abuse and violence in December after initial findings were released. 

A previous review in 2015 found that the Canadian military hosts “an environment that is hostile to women … and is conducive to more serious incidents of sexual harassment and assault.”

Ms Arbour said that no meaningful progress had been made on past recommendations for military reform with the armed forces ill-equipped to deal with such cases. 

The military has “failed to adapt to the ever-changing progressive society in which we live.

“The handling of sexual offences by military court in the past 20 years has done very little to improve efficiency, discipline and morale,” she said. “If anything, it has served to erode it.”

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