Evidence of meeting #146 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was military.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent. Thank you very much.
We're now going to start the second round. With your consent, I'm going to ask some questions.
Within RMC, Alan, what is the protocol, the process, if there is a sexual harassment or a sexual assault case?
As an Individual
My teaching is done at Canadian Forces College, not at the Royal Military College.
I am aware, yes, that there are protocols that have been developed and established specifically for the cadet body, based on certain issues. You heard Julie Lalonde talk about her experiences there. I don't have the specific details of how that is dealt with.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Are you familiar with it? It's still in the chain of command that we're hearing...when people are actually and they.... It's the same type of process.
As an Individual
Yes. It is still within the chain of command.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Okay.
Kristine, I'll switch over to you. We were talking about, and Bob talked about, how some of the armed forces had women troops and things of that sort. Are there any countries that we can look at, among our allies, that have seen an increase in women? Have you seen anything like this that we can adopt some best practices from, or do you think that many of these other countries are suffering from the same issues that we are?
Director, The WPS Group
I would argue that, yes, they are suffering the same challenges. I'm not as familiar with the other countries. I do know that Australia has done a lot in terms of putting policies in place and really trying to change that culture within the armed forces. That would be something to look at, but I'm not as familiar with it.
Maybe Alan would be.
As an Individual
Having worked with the Australians, I would agree. Australia and the Scandinavian countries are definitely ones that we can turn to, but I wouldn't restrict it just to there. There are several nations in the African Union that have taken really progressive strides in terms of their policy changes, as well as the increase in the number of women. We have some countries with armed forced that are now up to 30% women.
We tend to look at the usual, similar countries all the time. I think that we can learn lessons by looking elsewhere as well.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent. Thank you very much.
Kristine, I'll come back to you. You talked about watching The Fruit Machine a couple of weeks ago. We were fortunate enough to have Michelle Douglas and Martine Roy here for our first committee meeting.
Because of watching that documentary, which is very, very powerful, you may have done some research after, or you may have looked further after. However, where are we looking when we're looking at the LGBTQ+ community? Are we seeing changes there, or are we still finding the “you're part of this community; you're still below a cisgender person”?
Director, The WPS Group
I wouldn't be the best person to answer. I haven't worked with the LGBTQ+ community. If we're hearing this from women on this committee and we're getting all this data about what women are going through, then I would argue that, certainly, there is a lot that we don't know in terms of the LGBTQ+ community and what these members within the Canadian Armed Forces are going through.
I would think that there is a lot to uncover in terms of what they are still going through.
As an Individual
I have two quick comments. One of the primary markers—to go back to some of my comments—in the military is the basic question “Can you do the job?” As long as individuals demonstrate that they can do the job, most of them—not all—are accepted on the job within the team. There are, certainly, individuals who then get the pressures in terms of their personal lifestyle—don't bring it into the workplace; don't bring it into the socialization places; don't bring your partner to the mess. Of course, socialization is huge in the military, so there are still some individuals who definitely get that signal that they do not fully belong.
You've heard from one individual from the trans community. I've done research in that area. That one is much more complicated. I think, as with many in Canadian society, Canadians and Canadian Armed Forces members are learning more about transgender identity and what it means. Some are very uncomfortable with it. Some are very uncomfortable, particularly—and this is work I've done with international colleagues as well—those who transition from male to female, which tends to be more common in the military. I would suggest that part of the reason for it is that this person was somebody who fit the prototype ideal—this person was masculine, was a guy—and consciously chose to give it up, abandoned the ideal. That becomes problematic.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Excellent. Thank you very much.
I'm now going to move over to Eva. You have five minutes.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Thank you.
My first question is for Ms. St-Pierre.
Do you speak French? Do you need the earpiece for interpretation?
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
You talked about women in peacekeeping operations, and you said the field was 95% male-dominated. Are you talking about now?
Director, The WPS Group
Yes. I'd have to check the most recent figures, but that's generally where things stand.
It depends on the type of operations. In policing, 15% or 16% of officers may be women, and that number may have gone up slightly. In the armed forces, however, the proportion of women still sits at 3% or 4%, so it remains very low.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
Can you tell us what you'll be doing under the national action plan to recruit women? What's your strategy?
Director, The WPS Group
The national action plan is a Government of Canada plan mainly targeting the Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
On the foreign affairs side, there is an international desire to increase the number of women who join the United Nations as peacekeepers. In that connection, you may have heard of the Elsie Initiative, launched by the Government of Canada. It is an international cooperation initiative to promote the deployment of more women in peacekeeping operations.
As a member of civil society, our organization provides advice whenever possible, including through participation in various forums.
Liberal
Eva Nassif Liberal Vimy, QC
How much do you think that will help to improve the female-to-male ratio among peacekeepers? What is the target, in terms of women peacekeepers?
Director, The WPS Group
The United Nations has various targets. For its entire workforce, the target is 50% women. For peacekeeping operations, various targets were put forward for 2010 to 2020, but I'm not sure whether there is a specific target right now.
For example, in policing, the target was 20%, but it hasn't been met yet.