Well, first, we need to stop saying it's a big ship and that it takes a long time to turn it around. I've heard that ship metaphor a hundred times in the last five years, and I'm bored to death of it.
The other one is, “Well, sexual violence is not unique to the military. Sexism is not unique to the military. We see this across the board.” That is the pettiest cop-out I've ever heard in my entire life.
This is an institution that monitors what your underwear looks like. Let's be blunt here, right? Every facet of your life is controlled when you join the Canadian Armed Forces, and we're acting as though we can't do anything about these childish buffoons who are harassing women, the people who are laughing in women's faces when they make complaints.
We need courage, frankly, and we need bold leadership, to be able to say that this isn't just about sexual violence eradication, that we just have to find the 20 rapists within the military and get rid of them. We need to talk about how it is embedded in the military to be masculine. The uniform is masculine. You have to erase every part of your femininity to join the Canadian Armed Forces. You have to choose between your child and a career. You have to look like a man.
Literally, it is adding women and stir. We need strong leadership to name it as such, to say that masculinity for too long has been the key to succeeding in this job and we're not going to do that anymore. As well, being white has been clear to being part of the military, being straight—all of those things—and we're moving away from that direction.
It's a hierarchical institution, which means that General Vance could be making bolder statements and putting bolder things in place, and that will trickle down. It is a hierarchical institution; they look to him for direction.