Feds to pay $900M to those who experienced sexual misconduct in the military

The Federal Court has approved a settlement of $900 million in damages to be paid by the Canadian government to the men and women who experienced sexual misconduct while serving in the military.

The federal government agreed in July to pay $800 million for members of the Canadian Armed Forces and $100 million for another class of employees of the Department of National Defence to settle six overlapping cases filed in recent years.

The class action lawsuit followed an external review that found there was an “underlying sexualized culture in the Canadian Armed Forces that is hostile to women and LGBTQ members.”

The lawsuits made claims about sexual harassment, gender discrimination and sexual assault.

The Liberals began by fighting the lawsuits in late 2017, but reversed course weeks later in early 2018 to begin settlement talks.

The judgment released Monday afternoon says most, but not all, of the members of the classes in the lawsuits wanted the deal approved by the court.

Each individual claimant will be paid between $5,000 and $50,000. Some members may be eligible for up to $100,000 if they experienced exceptional harm such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Members will have up to 18 months to submit claim forms and will not have to provide oral testimony or undergo cross-examination in order to prevent re-traumatization.

Retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps, recruited to examine the extent of the problem, exposed what she called a sexualized military culture and left victims of sexual misconduct to fend for themselves.

The settlement also requires the government to implement numerous systemic changes and programs, including an engagement program that would give members the opportunity to communicate their experiences of sexual misconduct to senior representatives and revisions to how the government deals with disability benefits for survivors of sexual assault or harassment.

A five-year external review will also be required to assess the progress made by the Armed Forces in addressing sexual misconduct and provide recommendations to the Chief of Defence Staff and Deputy Minister of Defence.

The Forces has spent the past four years wrestling with ways to eradicate sexual assaults and inappropriate behaviour by establishing new support services for victims and promising severe consequences for perpetrators.

The Statistics Canada report back in 2016 found that about 1.7 per cent of the roughly 90,000 people in uniform – about 960 cases – were sexually assaulted in the last year, a rate higher than the 0.9 per cent reported in the general population.

Women serving in uniform full time were four times as likely to be assaulted as their male counterparts. That ratio was even higher – nearly one in 10 – for female personnel in the part-time reserve force.