Western Standard - December 14, 2023


Government Promises To See Through 19 out of 48 Recommendations On Military Culture Change

Topics
implementation of military culture change recommendations
Mentioned
Michael Douglas Arbour Renan
Freeland accuses Poilievre of not standing with Ukraine EXCLUSIVE： 'Challenging The Narrative Of Unmarked Graves' ~ Professor Tom Flanagan

Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

174.13

Word count

732

Sentence count

36

Harmful content

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, Defence Minister Harbord provides an update on the progress Canada has made in implementing recommendations from Madame Arbour's report on sexual assault and sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, including the removal of the term "sexual misconduct" from our official policies, and the use of "sexual assault as a stand-alone item."

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.400 One year ago today, my predecessor, Minister Renan, presented a report to Parliament in
00:00:05.400 which she agreed to implement all 48 of Madame Arbour's recommendations.
00:00:10.480 As we promised at that time, we will keep Canadians up to date on our progress to build
00:00:14.120 meaningful cultural change in our country's military.
00:00:17.280 Today I'd like to provide you with an update on the progress that we have made before the
00:00:21.740 year is through.
00:00:23.540 By the end of the calendar year, we will expect to have implemented fully 19 of the recommendations
00:00:29.440 from Madame Arbour's report.
00:00:30.620 These recommendations are brought in scope, from how we address sexual offences in our
00:00:34.500 military, to supporting affected members, to empowering other external voices to conduct
00:00:39.140 deeper reviews into our cultural change efforts, including at our Canadian military institutions.
00:00:45.060 We are making real progress, but we must keep going.
00:00:47.920 Today I can announce that we are implementing the first two recommendations in Madame Arbour's
00:00:52.160 report, which call for the removal of the term sexual misconduct from our official policies
00:00:56.820 and the use of sexual assault as a stand-alone item.
00:01:00.440 Madame Arbour found that this definition of sexual misconduct lacked coherence and clarity,
00:01:05.320 and that we should be more effective in our efforts to eliminate these behaviours by more
00:01:09.440 clearly defining them.
00:01:11.660 Going forward, we are abolishing the term sexual misconduct, and we will ensure sexual assault 1.00
00:01:16.340 as a stand-alone item in CAF policy with language in line with the Criminal Code of Canada,
00:01:21.820 which defines sexual assault as intentional, non-consensual touching.
00:01:26.480 The changes to the policy will be officially published in early 2024.
00:01:30.700 We believe that by providing a clear definition of sexual assault in line with the Criminal Code,
00:01:34.820 we will be better positioned to act when incidents occur and to respond in a more trauma-informed
00:01:39.820 way.
00:01:40.820 This definition will also shape our efforts going forward and improve clarity and certainty regarding
00:01:45.620 prohibited conduct.
00:01:47.580 As I noted earlier, these are just two of the 19 recommendations we've already implemented
00:01:51.060 by the calendar year.
00:01:52.060 We've also implemented Madame Arbour's 7th and 9th recommendations enabling CAF members
00:01:56.500 to bring sexual harassment and discrimination complaints directly to the Canadian Human Rights
00:02:00.900 Commission.
00:02:01.900 We've moved forward on recommendations 12, 13, 15, and 16 by renaming and reforming the
00:02:06.580 Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre.
00:02:10.420 For her 30-second recommendation, it provides me with assistance in providing approval of general
00:02:14.840 officers and flag officers and, of course, the appointment of an external monitor over
00:02:18.980 a year ago.
00:02:20.760 As I've said, we have much more work to do.
00:02:22.720 And we plan on implementing legislation on Recommendation 5 early in the next year.
00:02:29.020 I'm also pleased today to make an announcement that I think is a very important one, that today
00:02:35.060 I have had the privilege of appointing Michelle Douglas as the first Honorary Colonel for Chief
00:02:40.460 of Professional Conduct and Culture.
00:02:43.080 Ms. Douglas is a remarkable Canadian.
00:02:45.380 She's a Carleton University graduate.
00:02:47.380 She's a veteran.
00:02:48.380 She's a retired public servant.
00:02:50.920 And she was a survivor of the LGBT purge, the Canadian government's systemic campaign
00:02:56.480 of oppression against employees who were members or suspected members of the LGBTQ2 communities
00:03:02.100 from the 1950s to the early 1990s.
00:03:05.460 Ms. Douglas served as an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces from 1986 to 1989 when she was
00:03:12.180 discharged despite a distinguished service record simply because of her sexuality.
00:03:18.260 Despite the shameful treatment, she went on to have an impressive career in the public
00:03:21.680 service for three decades.
00:03:23.680 She now serves as an executive director of the LGBT purge fund, standing up for those who 0.97
00:03:29.420 were affected.
00:03:30.420 I am very grateful for Ms. Douglas for her courage, for agreeing to serve in this critically
00:03:35.520 vital role, and for the example of courage and determination that she presents to all Canadians
00:03:42.440 as well as members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
00:03:45.820 As we approach the end of 2023, I also want to make clear that although we have made progress,
00:03:50.980 there is much work left to be done, and by implementing Madam Arbor's recommendations,
00:03:54.960 we are building a more inclusive work environment for those who keep us safe.
00:03:58.980 We are building a military where all of the people can reach their full potential, where
00:04:03.100 young, diverse Canadians can feel respected, protected, and empowered to serve.
00:04:08.120 We will not ease up on these efforts.
00:04:09.740 We will keep moving forward.
00:04:11.600 Thank you, Merci.