Canadian general fighting in Ukraine faces charges of sexual assault

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A former Canadian Lieutenant General, currently in Ukraine, has been charged with sexual assault in Canada. After a months-long investigation, the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal declared that Trevor Cadieu faces two counts of sexual assault based on alleged incidents at Canada’s Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in 1994.

At the time, Cadieu was a cadet at the academy. According to local media, he is accused of having raped a female cadet. The Canadian military revels in a toxic culture of abuses and silencing, for these reasons the case is being turned over to civilian prosecutors. 

The Canadian Lt Gen was set to be sworn in as the head of the army at a ceremony last fall. However, the ceremony was postponed as the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) looked into the allegations. In April, Cdaieu retired and decided to go to Ukraine.

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According to the Ottawa Citizen, the retired lieutenant-general noted in an email he sent from Ukraine that he’d been informed of the charges and was “making arrangements to return to Canada from Ukraine”.

Last month, Louise Arbour, former justice of the supreme court of Canada, criticized the military’s approach to handling sexual misconduct cases. The review came after a different task force, in 2015, found that the Canadian military had “an environment that is hostile to women … and is conducive to more serious incidents of sexual harassment and assault.” 

Moreover, Defense Minister Anita Anand told a news conference that the government will implement 17 of the recommendations and will assess the rest of the recommendations after strategies on how to implement them are made clear.

"If we do not take this moment for what it is and implement the recommendations that identify deep areas of need for change in the Canadian Armed Forces and the defense team broadly, we run the risk of not being a fully effective military domestically and internationally," Anand said.

"We must grab the bull by the horns and make these changes now," she said.

Arbour, on her part, said the military is ill-equipped to handle the accusations of sexual assaults, rape, and harassment. According to her, no meaningful progress regarding past recommendations for military reform, which amount to hundreds, pulled through. The military "failed to adapt to the ever-changing progressive society in which we live."

In April 2021, the Canadian military reported to the House of Commons 581 sexual assaults and 221 incidents of sexual harassment, which have taken place in 2015. 

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