A woman and her family are being kicked out of military housing on CFB Trenton after her husband, a member of the military still working on the base, was accused of sexually assaulting her daughter.
She says while the couple had been separated on and off for two years, the final straw came three months ago when her now-13-year-old told her she had been sexually assaulted four years earlier by the woman’s husband in Quebec.
The mother’s identity is being concealed to protect her daughter.
“My then-eight-year-old daughter was a little upset and confused because she had gone to bed in one room with her siblings and fully clothed and woke up in another room with her underwear and her pyjama bottoms on the floor next to the bed that her father was sleeping in,” the mother says.
She claims he also propositioned her 18-year-old daughter.
She says the military police in Quebec are investigating her ex-husband for inappropriate touching of a minor and two counts of sexual assault.
Global News reached out to National Defence, which would not confirm the investigation, citing privacy concerns.
While the allegations have yet to be proven, now that the woman has separated from her spouse, military policies say she can’t live there anymore.
After everything her family has been through, as an ex-spouse of a military member, she and her children have been asked to leave their home in CFB Trenton’s permanent married quarters (PMQs) by May 7.
“8 Wing Trenton is aware of a matter regarding a Residential House Unit on the Wing. The chain-of-command is working closely with all parties involved to provide support and achieve a satisfactory outcome,” base public affairs officer Capt. Marie-Eve Bilodeau said in a statement to Global News.
Sandy Watson-Moyles, the executive director of Three Oaks Foundation, a women’s shelter near the base, says before COVID-19 it was not unusual to see military families seeking support at her organization.
“It’s an interesting dilemma because the military works for the military personnel, not the spouses,” says Watson-Moyles. “Now all bases have military family resources that are attached to them and they can be a great resource but they’re not entitled to the services that the military offers unless you are the military person.”
In the meantime, the mother of five says they will be living with a family friend while she looks for a home to call their own where she and her daughters can heal.
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