OTTAWA—A seven-year investigation into whether Canadian military commanders ordered soldiers to turn a blind eye to the abuse of young boys in Afghanistan is now in the hands of the country’s top soldier, Gen. Jonathan Vance, for review.

But even though the secret inquiry is in final stages there’s no word on when it will be completed or even whether its findings will ever be publicly released.

The length of the investigation and the secrecy that has surrounded it has raised the ire of one military observer who calls the process “farcical.”

Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel who now practices law in Ottawa, condemned the investigation, saying it has failed to seriously address the troubling allegations.

“Why were we in Afghanistan to begin with? To try to protect, to try to pass on some of our democratic values but even more basic, like human values,” Drapeau told the Star in an interview.

He said the serious nature of the allegations dictated that the investigation be done in a “prompt fashion, efficient, open so that you can take action and the perception is that you’re going to be acting on it.

“The fact it’s still (ongoing) is farcical. It shows in fact either you don’t care or you don’t want to get involved. One or the other, it is willful blindness” Drapeau said.

The investigation was ordered in 2008 in the wake of reports in the Star that some Canadian soldiers who had served in Afghanistan had sought counselling to cope with guilt at not stopping incidents of child abuse.

There were reports of young Afghan boys wearing wigs, lipstick and perfume being involved in what is known as “boy play.” The Star reported that some Canadian soldiers were told by their superiors to ignore incidents where Afghan troops and interpreters sexually assaulted boys.

The issue has been back in the headlines recently with news reports in the United States that American soldiers serving in Afghanistan were also told to ignore sexual abuse of boys by local security forces.

Yet while Canada’s mission to Afghanistan is over and the last of the Canadian contingent returned home early 2014, the investigation drags on.

The Star has previously reported that the inquiry has interviewed 87 witnesses and gathered more than 30,000 pages of documents.

The defence department declined to make a spokesperson available for an interview on the topic — under department policy the military is declining most interview requests during the election.

However, in a statement to the Star, the department said the timeline for such inquiries can “vary significantly.

“With respect to the amount of time taken to complete a BOI (Board of Inquiry), they are complex undertakings and do not have fixed end dates,” the statement said.

“Broadly speaking, it is important that the Canadian Armed Forces take the time to do the job right,” the statement said.

Canadians may never know the findings of the prolonged internal inquiry because “barring exceptional circumstances,” board of inquiry reports are not publicly released, it said.

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However, the military did confirm that this board of inquiry is in the final stages and its findings are now with Vance’s office for review. However, one source cautioned that it will be some time before the process is complete.

Vance took over the military’s top job in July and soon after vowed there would be show zero tolerance for sexual assault and harassment within the military. That commitment followed an independent report that found that women in uniform are often the target of vulgar name-calling, sexual innuendoes and jokes, harassment and assault, and much of it is condoned or ignored by senior military leaders.

Drapeau says the military needs to show the same urgency for dealing with the question of how Canadian commanders dealt with abuse reports in Afghanistan.

He said sexual assault “is as fundamental as you can get to human values and dignity and respect for the persons.”

“It goes to a core value. And I don’t know of any other core value as a human being. We protect kids. This is why we go to war,” Drapeau said.

Drapeau said he has heard concerns about the abuse second- and third-hand from several clients, who are former soldiers.

“If asked, they would be told not to intervene,” he said.

“They are reporting it to the chain of command because they have no choice and they don’t see the chain of command aggressively, robustly, expeditiously doing something with it, it’s revolting,” Drapeau said.

Quick facts:

Military boards of inquiry are typically launched to look into matters of “unusual significance or complexity.” Typically these involve the death, including suicide, or serious injury of a Canadian Armed Forces member.

According to a statement from the defence department, a board of inquiry is an internal, non-judicial, administrative, fact-finding investigation convened to examine and report on complex or significant events.”

They are conducted to “determine facts, make findings and develop recommendations.” However, they cannot recommend that charges be laid or administrative action be taken against any person.

Past inquiries have examined the fatal fire onboard the submarine HMCS Chicoutimi and the death of a Canadian soldier acting as a peacekeeper in south Lebanon in 2006.

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