Canadian Admiral Art McDonald at an event in 2020 Royal Canadian Navy
Canada's military leadership is in the eye of the hurricane.
Harjit Sajjan, Canadian Defense Minister, released in a statement that Admiral Art McDonald, chief of staff of the Armed Forces since mid-January, is under investigation for an accusation of sexual misconduct.
Sajjan noted that McDonald (54 years of age) has resigned voluntarily while the investigations are open.
The minister said that he takes "allegations of misconduct seriously" and that he will continue to take decisive action on any accusation of this nature.
"Regardless of rank or position," he stressed.
The investigation is in charge of the National Investigation Service of the Armed Forces.
According to the public chain CBC, the accusation against Admiral McDonald is related to an alleged incident - which occurred in 2010 - aboard the ship HMCS Montreal with a subordinate, in the framework of an operation called Nanook in Arctic waters.
McDonald, upon taking office on January 14, delivered a speech in which he apologized on behalf of the Army to the victims of racism and misconduct within the military.
McDonald then indicated that "surely" and unintentionally it had also been part of the problem.
Justin Trudeau, Canadian Prime Minister, announced the Art McDonald nomination last December.
McDonald replaced General Jonathan Vance.
The Defense Ministry reported on February 4 about the opening of an investigation against Vance, since two women who are part of the military ranks accused the general of inappropriate sexual conduct.
Vance has denied the allegations.
The Defense Committee of Parliament decided a week later to open its own investigations.
The Canadian military has been under a sky of criticism for several years for tolerating these behaviors excessively.
At the end of 2019, the payment of some 700 million US dollars in compensation to victims of sexual harassment and assault was authorized, both in the Armed Forces and in the Ministry of Defense, ending various collective lawsuits.
In April 2015, Marie Deschamps, a former Supreme Court judge, published a report highlighting the scope of a “hostile” and “sexualized” culture in the military ranks -particularly in the chain of command- that generated a climate conducive to sexual harassment and assault.
Three months later, when he reached the highest post in the Armed Forces, General Jonathan Vance launched Operation Honor to fight these crimes.
“A single incident, a single inadvertent mistake, or a single crime committed inadvertently is unacceptable,” stated Vance.
However, a survey by Statistics Canada showed that 1.6% of the 36,000 military personnel consulted said they had suffered some type of sexual assault between 2017 and 2018. On February 19, former judge Marie Deschamps appeared before the Defense Committee of Parliament.
At this meeting, he asked for the creation of a center outside the chain of command to deal with complaints about these behaviors.
Deschamps said that most of the recommendations he included in his report were not taken into account.
"I have the impression that very few things have changed," he said.
