5% of women at military colleges report being sexually attacked

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it 

Five per cent of women attending Canadian military colleges surveyed in 2023 said they were sexually attacked during the previous 12 months by being threatened, held down or hurt and forced into unwanted sexual acts, according to survey results obtained by CBC News.

And nine per cent of female military college students told the same survey that they had been sexually assaulted over the previous year while drugged, intoxicated or manipulated in some way.

Those results about two different types of sexual assaults are contained in a report the Canadian Defence Academy, which represents military colleges, shared with CBC News late last week — more than five months after CBC originally requested the findings. The academy said a decision was made not to publicly release the findings until students were briefed and received a copy of the report last week.

Most students surveyed — especially women — said they had experienced some kind of unwanted sexual behaviour in the previous year, such as sexual jokes, inappropriate comments about their bodies, or unwanted touching.

The survey also found that one per cent of male students surveyed reported being sexually attacked.

The Canadian Defence Academy calls the reports of sexual assault and unwanted sexualized behaviour in the survey "completely unacceptable."

The Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ont., and RCM Saint-Jean in Quebec offer naval and officer cadets aged 17 to 24 an undergraduate education and training to become commissioned officers.

The survey, administered by the military colleges in the spring of 2023, marked the first time the Department of National Defence had asked all students at both military academies about their personal experiences with sexual misconduct.

The survey was launched in response to a recommendation in 2022 by former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour, who was tasked with reviewing the Canadian Armed Forces sexual misconduct crisis that saw a series of senior leaders face allegations.

In her final report, Arbour called her interviews with female cadets "worrisome" because they confirmed that longstanding problems with the culture at the military colleges hadn't gone away. She said the cadets were mostly "young white men" and the colleges are from "a different era, with an outdated and problematic leadership model."

Arbour concluded that "the continued hostile environment and mistreatment of many female cadets in itself justifies an in-depth examination of the future of military training through these colleges." She called for more data collection on sexual misconduct and discrimination.

In response, all 1,247 naval and officer cadets in the regular officer training program at military colleges in the spring of 2023 were asked to take part in a survey about their student experiences, health and well-being. Less than half of the student population (36 per cent) opted to respond — more than 310 men and 120 women.

Students were asked about sexual misconduct in any college setting — on campus, on the way to or from campus, and at off-campus events organized by the college.