Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says she was “surprised and disturbed” to learn Vice-Adm. Craig Baines will be keeping his job as head of the navy despite a widely condemned decision to go golfing with Gen. Jonathan Vance while the former top solider remains under military police investigation.
The decision that Baines can remain in his post as commander of the Royal Canadian Navy was billed as a chance for him to “redeem himself” by acting chief of the defence staff Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre in an internal message to military members on Monday.
Freeland was asked about that decision, and said she doubts women in the military feel comforted to see Baines keeping his position.
READ MORE: Navy head keeping job, must ‘redeem himself’ after golfing with Vance: military head
“I think every single woman in Canada knows after the revelations of recent months that Canadian women in uniform work in a toxic culture. They work in a toxic system which must be changed,” she said, before offering her response “as a Canadian woman.”
“I was surprised and disturbed by the decision and my immediate thought was, how would I feel if I were a Canadian woman in the armed forces and what would that decision tell me about how seriously my bosses were taking the essential work of transforming the culture of the Canadian Forces?
“I don’t think, if I were wearing a uniform today, I would be reassured by that decision.”
In the internal message on Monday, Eyre said that there was “no perfect answer” for how to handle the situation, which was first reported on by Global News and The Globe and Mail earlier this month.
“I will give him this possibility to redeem himself and show us how to learn, grow, and help the healing process.”
READ MORE: Canadian military’s second-in-command resigns role after golfing with Vance
Leah West, who formerly served as an armoured officer in the Canadian Forces and is now an assistant professor focusing on national security law at Carleton University, said on Twitter following the news that Baines will stay in the role that she supports the decision by Eyre.
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“As the CAF grows & adapts, [members] will make mistakes,” she said in a tweet.
“Seeing leaders humbled by them and change their behaviour will send a more powerful message than tossing everyone aside. Some mistakes are unforgivable; this one wasn’t.”
West is a prominent voices among the current and former serving members who have been urging the need for meaningful change in the military, and testified last month as part of a House of Commons committee probing the cultural problems in the Canadian Forces.
She has previously spoken of her experience being sexually assaulted by someone she has described as her superior officer while serving, as well as how she was later punished for having a consensual sexual relationship while deployed — which is against the rules — and denied further opportunities to advance in the military.
Cmdr. Nancy Setchell, a former warship captain with the Royal Canadian Navy and now a serving reservist, also shared similar thoughts on Twitter, noting she agrees “this was the right thing to do.”
“Was this an ‘unforgiveable curse’? No,” she wrote. “But we have to use it as a chance to get better!”
Eyre made no mention in his decision of Baines’ initial description of his golf round with Vance as a “public display of support” — a description that was quickly condemned following a fierce backlash.
When pressed on whether his statement of a “public display of support” was intended as him taking a public stance on the ongoing military investigation into Vance, Baines later clarified.
“To be clear, it was not a show of support for Jonathan Vance as it pertains to the ongoing investigation. My focus should have been on the victims of sexual misconduct and on the impacts on their lives. For this, I am sorry,” Baines said in a statement earlier in June.
IN HER WORDS: The woman behind McDonald allegation tells her story
One of Baines’ subordinates has come forward with an allegation against Adm. Art McDonald that is currently being probed by military police in a separate investigation from the one into allegations by two other women against Vance, who is accused of inappropriate behaviour.
Vance denies those allegations.
McDonald has declined to comment, citing legal advice and the ongoing investigation.
But the round of golf between Vance, Baines and former vice chief of the defence staff Lt.-Gen. Mike Rouleau, who holds oversight authority for the military police, was roundly criticized across the political spectrum in a rare show of unanimity two weeks ago.
Freeland said on June 14 when asked about the incident that it raised questions about whether military members who come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct can receive a fair process.
“I think this showed very poor judgement and I absolutely understand and sympathize with the sentiment that men and women but maybe especially women serving in the Canadian Armed Forces have having seen this, and the concerns that it causes them to have about the possibility of real fairness for them,” she said at the time.
Rouleau resigned over the incident two weeks ago.
READ MORE: Sajjan censured by House of Commons over handling of military sexual misconduct
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan has for months faced calls to resign from defence industry experts over his handling of the military sexual misconduct crisis and his longstanding failure to implement an independent reporting system for military sexual misconduct allegations.
That was the key recommendation of the landmark 2015 report by former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps, which documented the extent of the problem and identified the culture of the Canadian Forces as “toxic” to women and LGBTQ members.
Over the past month, Sajjan has also faced calls to resign from Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole but has been defended by both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Freeland.
Conservative defence critic James Bezan called it “hypocritical” for Freeland to criticize Baines but to defend Sajjan’s handling of the crisis, which was sparked by exclusive reporting by Global News on Feb. 2 about the allegations facing Vance.
“These comments by Minister Freeland are extremely hypocritical given her repeated defence of Minister Sajjjan,” Bezan said in a statement. “Minister Sajjan failed to take action on sexual misconduct in the military for half a decade, pushed away evidence of sexual misconduct, and failed our women and men in uniform.
“If Minister Freeland truly cares about our women and men in uniform, she will join the countless Canadians calling for Minister Sajjan’s immediate resignation.”
Sajjan was formally censured by the House of Commons over his handling of the crisis on June 17.
Trudeau again defended Sajjan on Wednesday, saying the defence minister “has stood against the old boys network every step of the way and has had regular challenges with them throughout his career.”
“Minister Sajjan continues to be the person who I turn to to work very hard on transforming the culture of the military,” Trudeau said.
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