Defence Minister Says Roadmap in Place for Military Culture Change in Response to Arbour Report

Defence Minister Anita Anand, right, walks with Gen. Wayne Eyre, chief of defence staff, as they attend an announcement in Halifax on Nov.18, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)

Defence Minister Anita Anand said on Dec. 13 she hopes the culture change she is overseeing in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will last “our lifetimes” as she tabled her department’s report in Parliament in response to recommendations made last spring by former Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour.

“It’s not just morally right, it’s operationally necessary,” Anand said about the change as she spoke to reporters in Ottawa.

Anand remarked that Arbour’s report had been released in May this year and that a few month’s later she was able to present a “full fledged roadmap” of how the Department of National Defence (DND) is going to implement the recommendations.

Arbour made 48 recommendations on a wide range of issues, from how to prosecute sexual misconduct cases, to the recruitment process and initial training stages.

Arbour testified before the Commons national defence committee on Dec. 13 and said the government is dragging its feet on the implementation.

Anand said she had rejected none of the report’s recommendations and DND says work has started on implementing 17 of them.

In her briefing to media, Anand said she expects DND and the CAF to implement the recommendation that criminal code sexual offences be prosecuted outside the military justice system.

Anand was asked if there are concerns that the civilian system is already overburdened and not able to process these cases, as 97 sexual assault cases in the military have been referred to civilian police and 40 of them have been rejected in the past year.

Anand said she was aware of the challenges and committed to finding solutions.

“What we are doing now is ensuring that our officials are collaborating with the provinces and territories at a table that has been stood up to ensure the systematization and the smooth transfer of cases from one system of justice to another,” she said, mentioning that the RCMP and Quebec have been accepting cases readily.

Anand also announced that DND would respond to recommendation 29 of Arbour’s report by establishing a review board for the Canadian military colleges.

She says the CAF’s two colleges in Kingston and Saint-Jean attract top talent, but that the culture there “must change significantly.”

Allegations of sexual misconduct have plagued the institutions.

‘Cultural Change’

The minister also raised recommendation 36 about increasing the representation of women in each rank and eventually the top brass.

Arbour’s report says there is an overrepresentation of white men in the ranks of top officers.

The issue of race has already become a focus in the CAF, as an April 2021 internal briefing obtained by The Epoch Times shows. The briefing promotes concepts from critical race theory (CRT), which DND says is being done consciously.

The CRT ideology classifies white people as oppressors and other ethnicities as the oppressed. It asserts that the Western system of equality under the law upholds white supremacy.

Along with other changes to impact culture and have the CAF conform to a progressive worldview, DND says there is ongoing research to determine the best screening tools to deal with prospective recruits or members that have “problematic attitudes on cultural and gender-based issues.”

This includes screening applicants with a suite of tools, including assessing tattoos and body adornments for potential “hateful conduct” or “unacceptable attitudes” through a database maintained with the help of external experts.

Anand said the culture change will not succeed if it’s only applied from the top down and she’s looking for a team effort.

“My goal is to put in place the institutional reforms necessary so that cultural change can last our lifetimes,” she said.

Anand said that changing the culture of the CAF will help with the current recruitment challenges as it will restore the confidence of the public in the institution.

The CAF is losing members at a record rate and Chief of Defence Staff Wayne Eyre ordered a halt to all non-essential activities in October to address recruitment and attrition issues.

Eyre also recently established a new policy allowing permanent residents with no prior military training to join the CAF, with the promise of a faster pathway to citizenship.