Moving forward, I've thought a lot about it, because I think this crisis is an opportunity to move forward in a better way. That's the million-dollar question. We're talking about cultural change.
I'm going to be the honorary Lieutenant-Colonel for a reserve unit, and I was at a meeting of all uniformed members recently. They fell into two categories: men who wanted to explain to me that they had no part of it and men who wanted to tell me that they were the good guys.
I think, me included, we all have to take responsibility for the culture. For those men who said they weren't part of it, it's not true. You cannot spend the amount of time that some of these people spend in the military and not hear demeaning comments, sexualized comments against women, women's voices not being heard.
I was part of the problem too. I didn't speak up because I needed that career. I felt I had something to prove. The harder they pushed me, the more I was determined to demonstrate my capabilities.
All three of us were raped, though, and in my case by the commandant of a school. He's not one of the 13 who have already come out, but am I about to go before...? No. That was so long ago.
What I wanted to see was change, and to see Master Corporal Wojcichowsky, who's clearly way younger.... I mean, I put a uniform on in 1979, and to hear that the change.... What can we do? I think we all have to take responsibility to nip any misogynistic comments in the bud and to raise our women to speak up.
I think, as Canadians, it behooves us to start valuing women's skills, which are softer, which are patience, collaboration and compassion.
I can give you great examples of working with generals who were hard charging, with all the skills we value in the army—strong men—but they didn't solicit co-operation. Anyone who served in the Afghanistan conflict could have predicted the outcome.