Canadian veteran says he was forced out of military after sexual assaults, misconduct

Justin Hudson says he was consistently sexually harassed, sometimes in front of groups of people, and claims his superiors were made aware of the issue but nothing was done.

A Canadian veteran says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted and subjected to sexual misconduct during his time with the Canadian Armed Forces, and rather than his complaints being taken seriously, he says he was forced to leave the military.

“I ended up being blamed for my own decreased performance, and this was a major contributor towards me feeling really hurt, betrayed by the chain of command,” said Justin Hudson, a military veteran now based in Kingston, Ont.

He says he left the military a decade ago after being repeatedly molested, groped and exposed to male genitalia while training to be an aerospace engineer at CFB Borden, and once off base while training at CFB Comox in B.C.

He says on at least two occasions, two of his colleagues attempted to sexually assault him. Once, he says a man cornered him in the bathroom and exposed himself to Hudson while another time, he says two men held him down at a private residence while they both aggressively groped him.

Not only were there physical attacks, but Hudson says he was also consistently sexually harassed, sometimes in front of groups of people. He claims his superiors were made aware of the issue, but nothing was done.

Finally, after months of being targeted with no end in sight, Hudson says his performance was suffering due to mental anguish, so he requested a voluntary leave from service.

He says he was told this would take months, but if he agreed to take a leave that labelled him as “not advantageously employable,” he could leave right away.

“I want to get out of this hostile environment, so I basically supported the idea of leaving right away,” he said.