Two senior female officers quitting the navy over military's handling of sexual misconduct case

Warning: this story includes graphic sexual language that may offend some readers. Two senior female officers say they are leaving the military because the commander of Canada's Atlantic fleet refused to hold three key subordinates to account for mismanaging and attempting to cover up a sexual misconduct case, CBC News has learned. 

Lt.-Cmdr. Nicole Dugas said she's ending her 12-year navy career after losing all trust in Rear-Admiral Brian Santarpia and the entire institution.

"It would have been easier to simply continue to endure the sexual misconduct and the sexual harassment rather than to report and and go through that," said Dugas. "If you're not holding people accountable from that top level, nothing is ever going to change. Lt.-Cmdr. Jennifer McGean, who supported Dugas and her chain of command during the case, said she's also leaving the navy because she can no longer tolerate how the military handles accusations of sexual misconduct.

"I can't as a senior officer continue spouting what I know is lies — that it's safe to report, that you will get support and you'll be protected," said McGean, who has served more than 30 years.

Dugas claims her boss, Cmdr. Ian Bye, sexually harassed her and abused his position of power as a senior officer in charge of base administration. He was charged with making a sexual comment in the mess on Oct. 22, 2020, given a written warning and fined $1,500.

The navy released Bye in July 2021 as "unsuitable for further service" following an administrative review, according to a letter sent to Dugas. But three other senior, male officers involved in the handling of Dugas' misconduct case were not held accountable, Dugas and McGean claim.

Dugas, an executive officer, said she felt pressure from a officer superior in rank to not report the alleged sexual harassment and shared a partial recording of that conversation with Santarpia.

Despite that evidence, Santarpia sided with his male senior officers at CFB Halifax.

"I don't think it's fair to hold them to account …" Santarpia told Dugas in September 2021, according to a recording of their call Dugas shared with CBC News. "I honestly don't believe there was malicious intent in any way ... I think it's important we balance the intent against the impact."

Santarpia declined CBC's request for an interview. In a written statement, he said an administrative investigation he ordered into his male senior officers' actions, and the decisions in which he was involved, "revealed proper procedures were followed, however, the entire chain of command could have provided more effective support to the persons involved."

"... despite the efforts that were made to provide her with support, we failed to meet her needs," Santarpia wrote.

WATCH: Dugas says she regrets ever reporting her sexual harassment claims

CBC News has been tracking the case closely for a year and has obtained a series of documents, emails and audio recordings related to it.

Dugas claims that Bye was frequently seen drinking at lunch at the mess in the early fall of 2020 when he was president of the mess, which gave him access to a bar tab paid for by the membership. CBC News has obtained monthly mess records that show there was overspending on that account between September and October of 2020.