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Context
In 2015, former Supreme Court Justice and External Review Authority (ERA) Marie
Deschamps issued her report on sexual misconduct within the CAF. This independent review
(Deschamps, 2015) was requested by the Chief of Defence Staff due in part to the 2014 articles
published in Macleans magazine and its French-language sister publication LActualit that
reported a high incidence of sexual misconduct within the CAF (Mercier & Castonguay, 2014).
The findings of these publications, drawn from first person accounts from military sexual assault
While training for members of the CAF on inappropriate sexual conduct already exists, it is seen
as too theoretical and often not taken seriously. Deschamps noted that current training lacks
credibility and further perpetuates the view that the CAF does not take sexual harassment and
assault seriously (Deschamps, 2015, p. vi).
includes four lines of effort: 1) Understand; 2) Respond; 3) Support; and 4) Prevent. The vision
statement for Op Honour is one where all CAF members are able to perform their duties in an
environment free of harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour and are able to fully enjoy the
support of an institution that fosters mutual trust, respect, honour, and dignity (Vance, 2015b, p.
9).
In the remaining sections of this paper, we reimagine educational interventions and
leadership strategies that could be implemented for Op Honour. In addition to the issues noted
above, there are new emerging requirements for educational interventions including: Enabling
bystanders to intervene; developing leadership tools in support of victims; and enhancing
capabilities and tools for unit advisors to assist leaders in dealing with harmful and inappropriate
sexual behaviour (Vance, 2016). With respect to leadership strategies and approaches, we note
that educational interventions and leadership initiatives are two sides of the same coin: one
cannot succeed without the other.
Clearly, the obvious moral and criminal challenges posed by sexual misconduct require
active intervention; for those reasons alone, the problem needs to be addressed directly. There are
also important secondary considerations: unit cohesion is jeopardized by sexual misconduct
(Rosen and Martin, 1997), but also, the costs of dealing with the problem of sexual assault in the
military, including health care, lost productivity, and diminished quality of life can be substantial
(Bielski, 2015).
The initial review conducted by the military found that the CAF must refresh training
content across the institution with a view to including more specific information on diversity,
sexual misconduct, harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour, resiliency, bystander
involvement and update material on harassment, leadership, professionalism and ethics (Vance,
2016, p. 27). The Deschamps (2015) report has outlined the opinion and outlook on the current
sexual harassment training offered by the Canadian military:
Members of the CAF receive mandatory training at regular intervals, including on
prohibited sexual conduct. As a practical matter, however, this training does not seem to
have any significant impact. A large number of participants reported that the classes are
not taken seriously: harassment training is laughed at, the course is too theoretical, and
training on harassment gets lost among the other topics covered (p. vi).
Statements such as these highlight the need for change in both the approach and content of the
militarys sexual harassment training.
We note, first of all, that training should be tied to regular, comprehensive organizational
assessments (Bell, Quick, and Cycyota, 2002), and that training should be focused not just on
behavioral change, but also on systemic change (McLaughlin, 2015). An effective training
curriculum should be able to accommodate the diversity of educational backgrounds and prior
knowledge of those serving and working in the Canadian military. The CAF has diverse
demographics to consider. Amongst its approximately 66,000 Regular Forces members and
21,000 Reserve Forces members, ages range from as young as 16 years in the Reserve Force and
17 years in the Regular Force up to 60 years. Education levels range from a minimum of grade
10, or the Quebec equivalent of Secondary IV, for some Non-Commissioned Member trades,
such as for Supply Technicians and Infantry Soldiers, up to postgraduate-level degrees.
ethnicity, rank levels, trades and knowledge/experience levels regarding the subject of study all
vary widely across the population (Campion-Smith, 2016; Government of Canada, 2015, n.d.).
Not only will there be a variety of learning backgrounds and educational competencies,
but there are also various positions within the military with varying levels of formal
responsibility for resolution of harassment complaints. To address this diversity within the
training curriculum, the training package will consist of a self-paced distance education
curriculum which will include a practice-based simulation component and be tied to a face to
face (f2f) learning group: studies indicate that neither a purely distance nor purely face to face
approach may not be as effective as a blended one that integrates elements of both online and
face to face learning (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2010). The training content will
be delivered using educational technologies and pedagogies best suited for adult learners. These
will be highlighted in subsequent sections.
The course content should include a clear definition of how the CAF defines
inappropriate sexual behaviour and what processes and procedures CAF members should follow
if they are a victim of inappropriate sexual behaviour or witness such behaviour. According to
the Chief of Defence Staffs Operation Order for Op Honour, inappropriate sexual behaviours
include:
1. Actions that perpetuate stereotypes and modes of thinking that devalue members on the basis of
their sex, sexuality, or sexual orientation
2. Unacceptable language or jokes
3. Accessing, distributing, or publishing material of a sexual nature
4. Offensive sexual remarks
5. Exploitation of power relationships for the purposes of sexual activity
6. Unwelcome requests of a sexual nature, or verbal abuse of a sexual nature
7. Publication of an intimate image of a person without their consent, voyeurism, indecent acts
8. Sexual interference
based scenarios in the rehearsal stage (Miltenberger et al., 2009). To enhance the quality of
training, virtual BST simulations will be incorporated into each module to provide users with an
opportunity to put theory to practice in realistic situations. Each module will include an
interactive simulation for which the user will have to learn concepts, build skills, and make
practice-based decisions which will have specific impacts on the simulated case examples. These
simulation modules should be available in various formats (high-resolution media to text-based
scenarios) to accommodate universal design principles as well as logistical issues such as
bandwidth availability. Feedback will be immediate to facilitate rapid learning, and each section
will be completed only when the learner has demonstrated mastery within simulated practice and
knowledge-based evaluations. Recent studies have shown the effectiveness of such an approach,
especially when paired with live facilitation and personal interaction (Walker, 2015). This is
supported by testimony before a recent House of Commons Committee on Sexual Harassment in
the Federal Workplace (Leblanc, 2014) that emphasized the importance of face to face training as
an important component of any training program.
Facilitated Community Building
When learners have completed the PSI and BST components of the DL package, they
would have the option to participate in either face to face or online synchronous facilitated
community building. Learners may still hold on to some potential biases and negative attitudes
toward this training or its subject matter. The synchronous community building element of this
package is meant to bring people together as a group, with more experienced leaders, regardless
of their rank, facilitating the sessions to help address any potential gaps in knowledge or skills
from the PSI modules and BST simulations. Some of the work on attitudinal shifts and soft skills
Leadership Implications
The implementation and management of this education program demonstrates the need
for multiple and varied approaches to leadership, at several levels of action and responsibility. It
is important to note that this issue and our proposed education solutions are not just about
training; rather, organizational assessment, communications, and cultural change are part of the
entire program, and all require a leadership structure that will make sure this systemic change
occurs and is maintained.
Military organizations often presuppose an autocratic or transactional leadership style, in
which there are clear structures and hierarchy, and clear rewards for performance. While aspects
of our program builds upon a transactional leadership approach, for example creating a zerotolerance approach to sexual misconduct (Bell, Quick, and Cycyota, 2002), and emphasis on
command responsibility, in which leaders must take responsibility for the performance of their
units (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas, and Warner, 2015), this is not the only leadership style
needed or used in the military, and certainly not the only one needed in this case. In fact, we
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perpetuate the issue of sexual harassment (Zwerdling, 2014). Other leadership approaches such
as transformational leadership, emanating from the top, and distributed and emergent leadership,
permeating through the organization and the culture as a whole, must also be employed.
Transformational leadership at the top and throughout all ranks of leadership is a
necessity. As Scarlett-Ferguson (2011) notes, transformational leaders attempt to alter existing
structures and try to influence people to accept a new vision (p. 2). Transformational leaders
often make good use of transactional tactics, but their goal is to inspire the people around them
and transcend self-interest for the good of the organization (Avolio, Walumbwa, and Weber,
2009). The Canadian military is aware of the need for such an approach: the Chief of the
Defence Staffs Operation Order launching Op Honour specifically notes the need for
Leadership-Driven Culture Change: the strengthening of the CAF culture and ethos in a
manner that reinforces mutual trust, respect, honour, and dignity (Vance, 2015b). As Castro et
al. (2015) note, though, culture change cannot occur in a vacuum: leaders must be provided the
necessary resources and support needed to change the unit climate and culture around attitudes
and behaviors related to sexual harassment and assault (p. 9). The House of Commons report
(Leblanc, 2014) similarly noted the need for this approach in several areas: management and
leaders should receive additional training on the attitudes and mechanisms required to promote
and reinforce this kind of culture change. Specifically cited were leadership training on fostering
a respectful workplace; building a workplace free of discrimination, harassment and other
incivilities; promoting participation in harassment prevention strategies, such as additional and
advanced training; providing leadership and clarity around early intervention and complaint
resolution pathways; and modeling appropriate responses to complaints (Leblanc, 2014).
Conclusion
In this brief paper we have explored the issue of sexual misconduct and harassment in the
military, an issue that also exists in our culture at large. A recent external independent review of
this issue, commissioned by the Chief of Defence Staff, highlighted a number of issues within
the CAF, and it was this that gave rise to Op Honour, a way of addressing this issue within the
CAF. It is, however, too early in its implementation to determine whether or not Op Honour is
working. Our approach uses Op Honour as a starting point, but is intended to enhance this
program with our leadership and distance education approaches.
In our approach we consider the varied background of the people serving in the CAF,
both in terms of demographics, but also in terms of their learning backgrounds and educational
competencies. The educational intervention will be available in a self-paced distance education
model based on PSI modularized learning to make it accessible to a variety of learners with
different backgrounds and different deployment statuses. Simulations will be employed for
behavioural skills training, and we are suggesting a blended approach to learning in order to
encourage pedagogies that are suited best for adult learners and that facilitate community
building.
Educational interventions are not the only component of our proposal. Leadership and
culture change are key components to this intervention as well. As General Vance recently said,
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