‘I’m going to make it’: what Anita Anand brings to the fight against the military sexual misconduct crisis

Within hours of being sworn in as Canada’s minister of national defense on Tuesday, Anita Anand was lobbying top leaders about the military’s sexual misconduct crisis.

He met with Deputy Minister Jody Thomas and Acting Chief of Defense Staff General Wayne Eyre and said he wanted to review the external reports that have been made on sexual misconduct and the military justice system.

“I want to analyze which recommendations have been implemented and which recommendations have not been implemented, and if not, why not?” Anand said in an interview with The Star on Friday.

“That was the first thing I asked when I spoke to senior leadership after I was sworn in.”

Anand, the country’s second defense minister and the first woman of color to hold the post, faces the monumental task of addressing the military institutional crisis and overseeing massive cultural change.

“I have no doubt that this is a task that we can accomplish,” he said.

What the former law professor brings to the table is a combination of corporate governance expertise and ministerial expertise, having won accolades as a procurement minister for overseeing the purchase of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccines, a sometimes bumpy but intrepid endeavor. overall successful.

“I’m practical, I’m determined and I’m going to make it,” Anand said.

She takes the reins from Harjit Sajjan, who served in the defense for six years and was widely criticized this year for failing to control the military’s sexual misconduct crisis, a problem so devastating and widespread that it has been described as a threat. existential for the government. armed forces.

The government has known since at least 2015 that sexual misconduct is “endemic” in the military, a conclusion reached by retired Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps in a landmark external review.

Yet six years later, many of Deschamps’ recommendations have not been implemented, including a call for an independent reporting structure for the allegations.

The task of determining what such a system should look like was delegated by the government in April to retired Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbor, who is conducting another external review and expects to deliver her report next spring.

Anand, who intends to meet with Arbor this week, said the retired justice is well positioned to make recommendations and wants to make sure the government is ready when that happens.

“As an attorney, as a governance expert who has an intricate understanding of the process, and in particular the administrative process, I am in an excellent position to conduct the required analysis and help map out the implementation of that oversight mechanism,” she said.

Hearing about Anand’s experience “really increased my optimism,” said Charlotte Duval-Lantoine, an expert on military sexual misconduct and a fellow at the Canadian Institute for Global Affairs.

“This is what we need. We need someone who has the ability to understand how culture works in an organization and what are the levers to change this culture,” he said.

The fact that Anand, unlike Sajjan, has no military experience ultimately helps, said Stephen Saideman, Paterson president of international affairs at Carleton University, noting that there is “extensive” military experience that can take advantage when necessary.

Saideman said the problem with defense ministers who have served in the military is that their values, perspectives and ideas have been shaped by their service, and they can sometimes have a difficult time doing their job of providing civilian oversight.

“You need a minister to exercise civilian control of the armed forces and that does not work if the person thinks too much like a military person, if he has too deep a network with the armed forces,” said Saideman, who investigates civilian oversight of the armed forces. armed forces. in democracies.

Prior to entering politics, Anand was the JR Kimber Chair in Investor Protection and Corporate Governance at the University of Toronto, as well as academic director of the Center for the Legal Profession and its program of ethics in law and business.

In 2019, just prior to her election as an Oakville MP, Anand received the Yvan Allaire Medal from the Royal Society of Canada, recognizing outstanding contribution to the governance of public and private organizations.

The appointment identified Anand as “one of the world’s leading academics” in corporate governance, and noted the impact of her “fundamental research” on best practices for boards of directors, including the importance of diversity.

Michael Trebilcock, an emeritus law professor at the University of Texas who supervised Anand’s master’s thesis and later became a friend and colleague, said he “will not enter with firearms” on the sexual misconduct file.

“I think you will see it as a governance challenge,” he said, “that something has gone wrong in the governance structure of the armed forces that has facilitated this type of behavior.”

Anand received praise last week when he said his top priority is ensuring members of the military feel “safe and secure” and have access to supports.

But that stance also drew criticism. Former naval commander Paul Maddison tweeted that “it is not a credible top priority for a defense minister” and should be secondary to “ensuring that forces are prepared to protect and, if necessary, fight for the vital national interests of Canada in an increasingly dangerous world. ” . ”

Anand said the military needs to feel safe and secure in order to do its job.

“This is not just a women’s problem. This crisis is damaging the morale of the military, “he told the Star.” And for our military to be effective, our members must feel safe, they must feel protected, and they must be respected.

“We have an obligation to protect those who protect our country and we will work hard to regain their trust.”