A PROMISE FILLED YEAR AHEAD

Anita Vandenbeld, MP Photo Credit: Anita Vandenbeld

Anita Vandenbeld, MP

Photo Credit: Anita Vandenbeld

Esprit de Corp Magazine February 2020 // Volume 27 Issue 1

Let's Talk About Women in the Military – Column 11

 

by Military Woman

Question:

What does the political year ahead hold for military women?

Answer:

The short answer is it looks like a promise-filled year ahead. The federal election resulted in no changes at the Ministerial level for National Defence (MND) or Veteran's Affairs (MVA) but saw two changes at the Parliamentary Secretary level. Anita Vandenbeld Member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa West-Nepean, home riding for Defence's new Carling Complex, is the new Parliamentary Secretary to MND. She has worked in over 20 countries including Bosnia, Congo, Haiti, and Bangladesh and was awarded a Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal in 2008 for her work in Kosovo. Darrell Samson MP for Sackville Nova Scotia, a riding well known for its active veteran voice and presence, is the new Parliamentary Secretary to the MVA and Associate MND.

The Speech from the Throne, reconfirmed the Government's "solemn duty to those who choose to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces" and the Government's promise to "improve mental health care" and "ensure that every homeless veteran has a place to call home." The speech also stated the Government will move "forward for all Canadians, including women". Reassuring words that military women specific needs, including for mental health care and homelessness, will be intrinsic to government's future action plans and initiatives.

The Prime Minister's Office 2019 mandate letter to the MND requires him to have one in four uniformed members women by 2026. That's a tall order by anyone's estimation-especially if one considers that the letter also mandates a workplace free of "harassment and discrimination" but does not once mention sexual violence.

This is despite a recent $900 million-dollar military sexual misconduct class action lawsuit. Hopefully, federal workplace sexual violence is addressed within the Government's new National Action Plan on Gender-based Violence.

The mandate letter for Veterans Affairs also has a number of interesting military women-related points; but the devil is always in the details. The MVA is to provide:

  • a new rapid-response service staffed by social workers, case management counsellors and peer support workers; will they all have training in military

  • sexual trauma, and will both male and female staff be available upon client request?

  • an automatic approval processes for the most common disability applications; will they cover the most common disabilities for both men and women, or just men?

  • purpose-built veteran housing: will the plans include options for single parents and for veteran women-only housing requests?

  • support for the Centre of Excellence on Chronic Pain and the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research; will sex and gender specific considerations for all aspects of their work be pre-requisites for federal funding approval?

  • employment and training support services and job matching; will they include resources for all job types, including the women-heavy administrative and health care trades, alongside the more traditional "hardhat" trades? and

  • a "one veteran, one standard"; will they ensure the standards selected result in equitable outcomes for all veterans, men, and women?

 Other mandate letters have overlapping bright spots of military interest including a call for increased numbers of women in the trades, sciences, women-owned businesses, Canadian owned companies, and in security-related senior decision-making positions along with improved childcare access for all. The future “National Institute of Women's Health Research” will help to identify women's health research gaps.

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda will continue to identify systemic barriers to the forward progress of women in uniform domestically and internationally. The Canada Labour Code updates address workplace stress, injury, and toxin exposures. Federal training opportunities will be offered to improve unconscious bias and cultural sensitivity and provide mandatory training on sexual assaults for judges.

Overall, there are many reasons for military women to be optimistic that their issues are being heard and acted on politically. More equitable, inclusive approaches can be expected for all these topic areas in all departments as the quality and scope of GBA+ (Gender-based Analysis Plus) continues to improve. But real progress costs real money, so we will await the federal budget 2020; that's when we will see what really matters the most to this 43rd Canadian parliament.

 

Update:

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