OTTAWA — Canada will set aside close to 1 billion Canadian dollars to settle claims of sexual harassment and misconduct within its military.
The proposed settlement figure of 900 million Canadian dollars, or about $690 million, is intended to resolve five class action lawsuits brought since 2016.
“To all those who have had the courage to come forward as part of these class actions — and to those who will come forward — we offer our sincere regret that you experienced sexual misconduct,” Gen. Jonathan Vance, the country’s top military officer, and Jody Thomas, the deputy national defense minister, said in a joint statement. “We recognize that it takes a lot of courage to come forward to share difficult and painful experiences, and press for change.”
Just over four years ago, Marie Deschamps, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, released an extensive review that found that within the military there was “an environment that is hostile to women and L.G.T.B.Q. members, and is conducive to more serious incidents of sexual harassment and assault.”
In parliamentary testimony earlier this year, Ms. Deschamps said that the military was slow in changing its culture and that victims of sexual offense were not being properly treated in its complaints process.
It is unknown how many people will make claim under the proposed settlement, assuming that it is approved by the Federal Court of Canada at a hearing in September. It will cover incidents dating back to April 1985 and will cap total payments to former members of the military at about $613 million, and to civilian employees of the defense department at about $77 million.
Amy Graham, one of the plaintiffs, said she expects 10,000 people or more may make claims.
“I’m willing to bet that every female member of the forces has faced some form of discrimination,” said Ms. Graham, who quit the military after six years after being sexually assaulted while returning from duty in Afghanistan.
“My biggest fear is that the public will view this in a negative light given the amount of money,” she added. “But that anger should be directed at a military that allowed this to go on for so long.”
Individuals will generally receive between $3,800 and $42,000, although some people who “who experienced exceptional harm,” and who were denied disability compensation as veterans, may get as much as $119,000.
The proposed settlement also commits the military to improve its complaints process and to create a forum for victims to share their experiences with the military’s leadership.
Garth F. Myers, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said that obtaining measures in the settlement for reducing and eliminating sexual harassment was an important goal of his clients. “It simply wasn’t enough to get compensation, we wanted to change things,” he said.
Harjit Sajjan, the defense minister and a former lieutenant colonel who served in Afghanistan, characterized the proposed settlement as part of a broader effort to end sexual misconduct and aid victims.
“This outcome will build on some of the important work we are already begun,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to learn from these survivors as we take steps to achieve lasting and positive change.”
The government attempted to shut down the class action suits at the start of last year and came under criticism after its lawyers told a court that it didn’t have a duty “to provide a safe and harassment-free work environment, or to create policies to prevent sexual harassment or sexual assault.”
But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he found that argument concerning, and in February last year, the government said it would attempt to reach a settlement.
Last fall, the military said that it would reopen investigations into 23 sexual assault cases it had previously declared to be “unfounded.”
Source : Nytimes
