More men are reporting sexual misconduct in the military. This survivor says it’s a move in right direction
The Current18:05More men report sexual misconduct in Canada’s military
Read Transcribed Audio
WARNING: This article contains details of abuse and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
In the late 1970s, Larry Beattie says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a superior officer while serving aboard a ship in the Canadian navy, and threatened against reporting it.
“He always told me that if I was to talk to anybody about it, I would end up with the garbage, you know, overboard at night … he would throw me over the side,” Beattie told The Current’s Matt Galloway.
Beattie, 18 and on his first deployment, didn’t report the incidents. He felt he’d be up against “the old boys network.”
“Back in 1979, a woman being assaulted and reporting it to the authority, not much was done,” he said.
“So a man reporting a man sexual assault? I don’t think it would have gone very far.”
The percentage of military members who reported being sexually assaulted by another member of the military more than doubled between 2018 and 2022, says a new report from Statistics Canada. Canadian Armed Forces Chief of Professional Conduct and Culture Lt.-Gen Jennie Carignan addresses the concerns on Power & Politics.
Late last month, the Department of National Defence (DND) announced efforts to improve services for men who report sexual abuse and misconduct. The department intends to award a contract to provide appropriate training to staff at the military’s Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre (SMSRC).
Figures from Statistics Canada show that reports of sexual assaults in the armed forces more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. The number of reported cases involving male victims has been rising, accounting for almost half of the 1,431 new reports of sexual misconduct in 2022-2023. The DND told CBC News that’s risen from about one-third of new cases in previous years, and acknowledged that these men have not always felt “safe, secure and supported” in making those reports.
The Current requested an interview with the SMSRC, but no one was made available. Speaking to CBC’s Power & Politics recently, Lt.-Gen Jennie Carignan said the increase is both good and bad news.
“It could mean an increase in awareness. People are more aware of what constitutes sexual misconduct, and being more familiar as to what to report,” said Carignan, the Canadian Armed Forces chief of professional conduct and culture.
“But at the same time, we want to eradicate those misconduct within our teams.”
Shifting the shame
The federal government’s notice indicates it intends to award the training contract to the Ottawa psychotherapy firm Men & Healing, though other interested parties were invited to apply before the closing date on Jan. 5.
Men & Healing’s managing director, Rick Goodwin, said the firm offers a range of therapy options for survivors seeking help — starting with an individual assessment.
“We do some psychological testing around issues of post-traumatic stress, clinical depression, patterns of dissociation,” said Goodwin, a social worker who has advised the DND on issues relating to sexual misconduct.
“And then we make a plan, whether it’s individual work, group work, a combination of both.”
Goodwin said some men need time to work up to group therapy, but often “a penny will drop” once survivors start to open up and support each other.
“A guy’s going to say to himself, ‘How is it that I can be so compassionate to all these other guys in my circle, but I can’t do that to myself?'” Goodwin said.
“If we can shift that shame, get the fellow moving away from the most difficult emotion anyone can experience, then we can see profound growth in that individual.”
That shame is part of why male victims of assault don’t always report what has happened, Goodwin said, pointing to social pressure and gender-coding that paints men as strong and invulnerable.
There is also a societal assumption that “victims of sexual violence are female-identified, not male-identified,” and fewer supports and organizations for men who do experience abuse.
“We need to present options to survivors of trauma. We need to give them more choice. And some of that may be within the forces, and some of that may be community based,” he said.
Change coming slowly
Beattie retired from the military in 1998. But he struggled with alcohol dependence for much of his life, he said, which cost him several relationships.
In 2016, he was part of a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian military, brought by former members and alleged victims of sexual misconduct. The lawsuit was settled for $900 million in 2019, though the federal government did not admit liability in the case.
In a new report, former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour says the Canadian military should permanently move sexual offence investigations into civilian criminal courts, citing past mismanagement of sexual misconduct allegations and an overall resistance to change.
In May 2022, former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour concluded year-long inquiry into sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. She made 48 recommendations, among them that the Armed Forces’ definition of sexual misconduct is too broad, and should be brought into line with civil definitions. And that the military should permanently transfer jurisdiction over investigating and prosecuting sexual offences to civilian courts.
On Dec. 13, the DND said that it expected 19 of the recommendations to be implemented by the end of Dec. 2023, and that progress on the rest was underway.
Beattie said the changes in recent years are encouraging, but he thinks more need to be done.
“Fourteen-hundred people have reported sexual misconduct in the last two years. So when will it end? I don’t know. The culture needs to change for sure,” he said.
He said the lawsuit has also broken some of the silence that surrounds male survivors.
“Men in the military still serving — or former members — have reached out to me, you know, just to talk,” he said. “So yeah, it’s going the right way, I think.”
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
