Statistics Canada Report on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces

Stratistics Canada released a report earlier this week on Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, 2016:

"From April to June, 2016, active Regular Force and Primary Reserve members were invited to complete an electronic questionnaire asking about their experiences and perceptions of inappropriate sexualized behaviour, discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and sexual assault within the Canadian Armed Forces. This included seeing, hearing or experiencing these types of behaviours within the military workplace, or outside the military workplace but involving other military members or Department of Defence employees or contractors. Responses were received from over 43,000 active members of the Canadian Armed Forces, including members of the Regular Force and Primary Reserve."

Among the highlights:

• In the past 12 months, just under 1,000 Regular Force members of the Canadian Armed Forces, or 1.7%, were victims of sexual assault (i.e., sexual attacks, unwanted sexual touching, or sexual activity to which the victim is unable to consent, which occurred in the military workplace or involving military members, Department of National Defence employees, or contractors). Unwanted sexual touching was the most common form of sexual assault, reported by 1.5% of Regular Force members.
• Women in the Regular Force were more likely than men to be sexually assaulted (4.8% versus 1.2%) in the past 12 months.
• Half (49%) of women who were victims of sexual assault in the past 12 months identified their supervisor or someone of a higher rank as the perpetrator. For male victims, a peer was most commonly the perpetrator (56%).
• Among Regular Force members, 27.3% of women and 3.8% of men have been victims of sexual assault at least once since joining the Canadian Armed Forces. More specifically, 24.0% of women and 3.4% of men in the Regular Force have been victims of unwanted sexual touching, the most common type of sexual assault.
• Four in five (79%) members of the Regular Force saw, heard, or were personally targeted by sexualized behaviour in the military workplace or involving other military members, Department of National Defence employees, or contractors, within the past 12 months.
•  Sexual jokes were the most common type of sexualized behaviour in the workplace, seen, heard, or experienced by 76% of Regular Force members. Of those who reported sexual jokes in the workplace, almost half (46%) stated that they occurred ten or more times in the past 12 months.
• One-third (34%) of Regular Force members saw, heard, or experienced discriminatory behaviour in the workplace in the past 12 months. This discrimination most typically took the form of suggestions that people do not act like men or women are supposed to act (22%).
• Close to one in five (17%) Regular Force members were personally targeted by sexualized or discriminatory behaviour in the past 12 months. Women were twice as likely as men to report being personally targeted by sexualized or discriminatory behaviour in the workplace or involving military members (31% versus 15%).