Backsliding in the Latest Arbour Report Card

For the first time in this Report Card’s history, two recommendations have been reversed from their status as ‘Implemented’ to now only ‘Underway’. This is in light of new information about the limited extent to which these substantial changes have been communicated and coordinated throughout the organization, raising important questions on the legitimacy of the metrics being used by DND to dictate the status of recommendations’ progress.

Recommendations #7 and #9 surround creating the option for servicemembers to take both complaints and allegations of sexual harassment to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), without first having to exhaust all other options. These were both announced as implemented in Minister Blair’s December 2023 update on culture change in the CAF. This apparent backsliding in Recommendations #7 and #9 present as an important opportunity to discuss the difference between formal and substantive implementation, and whether or not the CAF is able to effectively differentiate between the two.

While the Second Status Report of the External Monitor indicated that the changes stemming from these two recommendations had been widely communicated to servicemembers, details in her Third Status Report, along with the CHRC annual report, suggest otherwise. It was reported in May 2024 that CHRC representatives are starting to meet with staff of Conflict and Complaints Management Services at various bases to explain the role of the CHRC and how this new reporting option functions. While this is no doubt a positive step, it does suggest that this recommendation has not been implemented beyond a formal sense. If those identified as primarily responsible for conflict and complaints at the base-level are not informed on how the CHRC functions and how these new procedures operate, how can we expect that the majority of servicemembers are?  

Over the past year, the CHRC has received only 25 complaints related to sexual harassment in the CAF. While Recommendations #7 and #9 do not require servicemembers to seek justice or find legal counsel through the CHRC, they function to encourage and facilitate the use of the CHRC as a primary option for reporting. However, with only 25 complaints in the past year reaching the CHRC, there appears to be limits on the extent to which this option has been made accessible to servicemembers. This number appears especially meager in light of Statistics Canada’s December 2023 updated data confirming that 3.5% of CAF personnel had been sexually assaulted by another military member in the past year.  

Additionally, Recommendation #7 explicitly states that the CHRC is to be “adequately resourced” in order to efficiently assess complains; however, the organization has reported that it has received no additional resources to support this work, and has relied on existing resources to support the implementation.   

Ultimately, this reflects an unfortunate pattern within the CAF of measuring implementation by action rather than outcomes. While Recommendations #7 and #9 have been categorized by DND as implemented, the reality of their institutional rollout reflects a lack of substantive change – unfortunately, something seen all too often within a number past efforts at institutional reform. The case of Recommendations #7 and #9 raise important questions about the CAF’s metrics for recommendations’ completed implementation, as well as if current strategies for culture change will translate into their intended outcomes.