Military asked to consider dismissing members after 1st offence of unwanted sexual touching

Defence Minister David McGuinty wants the military to review a trend in civilian court toward judges supporting workplaces firing Canadians for any unwanted sexual touching on the job — even if it happened once. 

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is launching new advisory panels this fall to discipline military members for sexually inappropriate behaviour. 

The minister is supportive, his office said, of an external monitor’s recent recommendation that if the military wants to modernize its conduct process, it could look at a clear pattern in civilian court over the past decade.

“Now, more than ever, any type of non-consensual touching of a sexual nature within the context of one’s employment is likely to lead to dismissal, even for a single event and even if there are mitigating factors,” external monitor Jocelyne Therrien wrote in her June report.

Victims and experts have long raised concerns that the military has moved members involved in cases like groping to other units, given them warnings or other remedial measures. Therrien wrote that gone are the days where that’s a “viable solution” and it could expose the victim or other staff to risk.  Link to full story here.