Defence chief says ‘Harmful sexual behaviour is a real problem in our institution’ as survey finds 27% of female troops sexually assaulted during career

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

About 960 members of the Canadian military reported being victims of sexual assault in the past year, and 27% of women in the armed forces have been sexually assaulted during their career, according to the country’s national statistics agency.

The landmark survey, commissioned by the military, found 1.7% of regular force members of the military had been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months, nearly double the 0.9% rate of sexual assault among working Canadians.

According to the Statistics Canada survey, which was released on Monday, 840 military members reported unwanted sexual touching, 150 reported sexual attack, and 110 sexual activity without consent in the 12 months before the survey was conducted.

The survey, which received more than 43,000 responses and a 61% response rate among regular force members, found that women were four times more likely than men to report being sexually assaulted in the past year.

Women make up about 15% of Canada’s armed forces.

The chief of defence staff, Gen Jonathan Vance, said the results of the survey were both expected and sobering.

“Harmful sexual behaviour is a real problem in our institution. We know it, and we are trying to tackle it head on,” Vance told a news conference.

“I’m more motivated than ever to eliminate this behaviour and the perpetrators from our ranks.”

Vance launched Operation Honour, a military programme to address sexual offences, in 2015 after an external investigation said the Canadian armed forces had an underlying sexualised culture hostile to women and gays.

'It savaged my life': military sexual assault survivors fighting to become visible Read more

Western militaries are increasingly coming under scrutiny for their handling of sexual offences. A Pentagon report in May said sexual assaults in the US military are still underreported.

The Canadian survey showed female victims were far more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone in authority, with 49% of women assaulted in the past 12 months identifying a supervisor or someone in a higher rank as the perpetrator. In contrast, 56% of male victims identified a peer as the perpetrator, the report showed.

Eight in 10 respondents reported seeing or hearing inappropriate sexual or discriminatory behaviour, including jokes, unwanted comments, sexually explicit material being shared or displayed, insults, or pressure for dates or relationships, the report found.

