{"id":471248,"date":"2022-07-06T21:17:55","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T18:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/louise-arbour-is-fighting-to-reform-canadas-military\/"},"modified":"2022-07-06T21:17:55","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T18:17:55","slug":"louise-arbour-is-fighting-to-reform-canadas-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/louise-arbour-is-fighting-to-reform-canadas-military\/","title":{"rendered":"#Louise Arbour is fighting to reform Canada&#8217;s military"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407b45000cc\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a407b45000cc\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/louise-arbour-is-fighting-to-reform-canadas-military\/#%E2%80%9CLouise_Arbour_is_fighting_to_reform_Canadas_military%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Louise Arbour is fighting to reform Canada&#8217;s military&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CLouise_Arbour_is_fighting_to_reform_Canadas_military%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Louise Arbour is fighting to reform Canada&#8217;s military&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n                                                                        Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court justice and United Nations high commissioner for human rights, has spent her career taking on the world\u2019s most notorious human rights violators. And yet one of her most formidable challenges is domestic. In May, Arbour released the results of her year-long inquiry into the Canadian Armed Forces, sparked by a string of sexual misconduct allegations\u2014some involving the organization\u2019s top brass. The report was unequivocally damning: the military\u2019s culture is deficient; its colleges outdated. \u201cI was told that almost every female cadet has experienced an incident or more of sexual misconduct \u2018or worse,\u2019\u2009\u201d she wrote. Now, the federal government is tasked with implementing Arbour\u2019s 48 recommendations, which include handing over sexual misconduct cases to civilian courts. Progress is slow, and Arbour is patient\u2014to a point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Yours is the second inquiry into the military\u2019s handling of sexual misconduct cases in seven years. How is this report different?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Justice Marie Deschamps\u2019s report was pretty earth-shattering in exposing how ingrained sexual misconduct was in military culture. But looking at the re<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>tion that would come from a criminal justice response was outside of her mandate. When I came along, there was a lot of concern that change had not been implemented, even coming from the auditor <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>. My report looks at two issues: the continued prevalence of sexual misconduct, and allegations against very senior members of the Armed Forces. I was trying to see how people with these character flaws manage to progress through the ranks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Your most talked-about recommendation is that the military hand over sexual misconduct complaints to civilian courts, where conviction rates in these cases are famously low. What reasonable expectation of justice can victims have even if that change is made?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not suggesting for a minute that the civilian system is perfect, but the military system has features that are even more problematic. The main one is the duty to report. It\u2019s hard enough for any victim of criminal sexual assault to come forward, but to have to tell your chain of command in an environment where nothing will h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>en, aside from a slap on the wrist? There are also informal reprisals, like being ostracized by colleagues. A lot of corrective measures have been put in place over the years in the civilian system, including establishing specialized courts for sexual offences and attempts to displace myths and stereotypes. In the civilian arena, people report crimes because the system will react positively. In the military, the opposite happens.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1238017\" style=\"width: 2003px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-sizes=\"auto\" class=\"wp-image-1238017 size-full lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/LA_LAM4646_Richmond-Lam-e1657131188759.jpg\" alt=\"When she\u2019s not taking on egregious human rights offences, Arbour likes to relax at her cottage with her dog, Snoro.\" width=\"1993\" height=\"2393\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">When she\u2019s not taking on egregious human rights offences, Arbour likes to relax at her cottage with her dog, Snoro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>You said that one impediment to progress is the assumption that misogyny is the root cause for the problems in the military. But isn\u2019t misogyny the key issue?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh, there\u2019s no question. Women always served in military support positions, like nursing, but they were only fully integrated into combat when the courts ordered it. It\u2019s not enough to think that, over time, this culture will start to dissipate. The military has to accept that it can\u2019t fix everything by itself. It has uniformity in its DNA. So if they keep thinking they can change things with PowerPoints and internal anti-misconduct initiatives, it\u2019s not going to happen.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you rehabilitate an organization whose members inflict and enable abuses within its own ranks? It\u2019s a snake eating its own tail.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The military could use external partners like the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It could also bring in experts from the civil corporate sector or send cadets to civilian universities, where diversity is years ahead of what we\u2019ll ever see in military colleges. If you just recruit white boys who like guns but don\u2019t like women or anybody who doesn\u2019t look like them, you\u2019ll perpetuate that culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You\u2019ve spent a lot of time on conflicts that the international community initially showed little urgency in dealing with, like Darfur and Rwanda. How do you deal with human rights abuses being met with politicking and platitudes?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I indicted Slobodan Milo\u0161evi\u0107 for war crimes, I thought, This is the beginning of a new era. When I was the high commissioner for human rights, there was a lot of momentum, too. But I started to understand that \u201cmomentum\u201d was a Western-driven concept, and a tone-deaf one. The Western position\u2014that our values were good\u2014fell apart when we were asked to do something that was hard for us, like deal with the rights of migrants. I realized that what I thought would be constant, linear progress on these great ideas was, in fact, cyclical. I think we\u2019re in a low part of the cycle now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You said the Canadian military favours the appearance of implementation over substance. You could argue the federal government has similar limitations.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s true. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything in my report that is ideologically unacceptable to the government, but it\u2019s not a priority. There\u2019s no price to pay for not doing anything\u2014until seven years later, when you appoint another judge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Well, the price for inaction isn\u2019t being paid by the military or the government. It\u2019s being paid by the victims.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Exactly, and they\u2019ve been very courageous to come forward. But until there\u2019s widespread public and political mobilization, it\u2019s hard to expect quick implementation. I always hated the expression \u201cbeing the voice of the victims.\u201d They have voices; what they need is a megaphone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mary Fisk, one of your former principal advisors, said that people in your inner circle were occasionally frustrated that you weren\u2019t more outspoken about certain issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Mary\u2019s a good friend; I\u2019m sure she was struggling to say something negative. (I\u2019m kidding.) Others were frustrated because I\u2019m very results-oriented. The naming-and-shaming culture that\u2019s very prevalent in NGOs\u2014that\u2019s their weapon. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s how I can be most efficient. I could look good by banging my fist on the table, but what\u2019s that going to achieve?<\/p>\n<p><strong>I just don\u2019t think that any person with a heart can look at the kinds of horrors that go on and not want to be more forceful to make things better.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I am sure, because of that, they\u2019d want to be very strategic and think: well, okay, after I bang my fist, how can I outsmart these people? How can I make them do something I know they don\u2019t want to do?<\/p>\n<p><strong>I\u2019m sure polite diplomacy can only go so far with despots. Eventually, you have to show your teeth.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It depends on what tools you have. I didn\u2019t always have the capacity to do something concrete. Issuing an indictment is a nice way to do it, especially after you\u2019ve been dismissed as just \u201cthis little woman.\u201d You wait and wait, and when you\u2019re ready: boom.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What makes you immune to the paralysis that can come from witnessing so much tragedy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, what\u2019s the alternative? Give up altogether. I\u2019m going to Africa now because I\u2019m on the board of the Mastercard Foundation. On the way back, I stop in Geneva, where I\u2019m a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy. I don\u2019t weep at the fate of the world when I\u2019m packing my bags. I\u2019m often moved, but I\u2019m always looking for fixes. I think, with any luck, the phone won\u2019t ring, and I\u2019ll just sit on my dock with my 110-pound dog, Snoro. Then something else comes up, and there I go again.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>This article appears in print in the August 2022 issue of<\/em>\u00a0Maclean\u2019s\u00a0<em>magazine. 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Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/the-interview\/how-louise-arbour-is-fighting-to-reform-canadas-military\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Louise Arbour is fighting to reform Canada&#8217;s military&#8221; Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court justice and United Nations high commissioner for human rights, has spent her career taking on the world\u2019s most notorious human rights violators. And yet one of her most formidable challenges is domestic. In May, Arbour released the results of her year-long&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":471249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/LA_LAM4554_Richmond-Lam-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[131058,70376,25406,103541],"class_list":["post-471248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-louise-arbour","tag-military","tag-sexual-misconduct","tag-the-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}