Re: DND/CAF Ombudsman

by **OutlawSoldier** Wed 17 Mar 2021, 9:14 pm

03.17.2021

by **Braven** Tue 22 Jun 2021, 2:21 pm

Defence minister's office trying to 'exert control' over investigations: military ombudsman

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Jun 22, 2021

https://www.cbc.ca/news/SOMNIA-1.6075124

by Xrayxservice Tue 22 Jun 2021, 4:49 pm

06.22.2021

by **Forcell** Wed 23 Jun 2021, 11:35 am

06.23.2021

by **Spider** Thu 01 Jul 2021, 10:04 am

Military ombudsman doubles down in dispute
with DND, demands return of spending power

Gregory Lick has accused the department of trying to 'exert control' over his work

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Jul 01, 2021

Murray Brewster · CBC News

by **Rockarm** Mon 06 Dec 2021, 8:22 am

DND investigations into ombudsman’s staff exposed as shoddy, lacking in evidence

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Dec 06, 2021

Defence Watch

by **Forcell** Fri 10 Dec 2021, 11:05 am

DND officials erected roadblocks as military ombudsman tried to help soldiers, documents reveal

David Pugliese • Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Dec 10, 2021

Defence Watch

by **Accer** Mon 20 Dec 2021, 2:53 pm

Military member waits almost a decade for defence department to process grievance

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Dec 20, 2021

DND/CAF Ombudsman - Page 3 Military-misconduct-20210622

CBC News

by Covert Mon 02 May 2022, 7:59 am

CAF must better cater to troops with exceptional family needs: watchdog

Published May 2, 2022

OTTAWA - Canada's military watchdog is calling on the Armed Forces to better accommodate troops with disabled children and other exceptional family circumstances, warning some are being forced to choose between their loved ones and their careers.
While around one in four members of the Canadian Armed Forces are required to relocate every year due to training or operational needs, those with special family needs are allowed to apply for exemptions.

A compassionate posting or status is intended to provide flexibility to members who have special family circumstances, such as children with disabilities or older parents who need support.

But in a new report, military ombudsman Gregory Lick says the military’s current approach to deciding whether troops qualify for such compassionate postings is riddled with shortcomings and problems that need to be addressed.

Those include unclear criteria around who can qualify, a lack of transparency around how such requests are approved or rejected and even pressure on some troops not to apply in the first place.

“Most CAF members and family members interviewed believed the needs of their family were secondary to the needs of the CAF,” reads the report. “Many reported feeling marginalized or stigmatized when requesting … a compassionate posting.”

In an interview, Lick said he was particularly touched during visits to military bases and wings by the stories from service members and families about the difficulties caring for children with disabilities and special needs.

“They're a very vulnerable community,” he said. “They're on a wait-list to be able to get help for their children and all of a sudden they get a posting message.”

Compassionate postings and statuses have been very beneficial to military members and families who have been able to take advantage of them, he added. The problem is with the gaps and uncertainties that surround them, which has led to uneven application.

Part of the problem is the lack of clear criteria, including a definition of what constitutes both “family” and “exceptional personal circumstances,” creating confusion for troops asking for a compassionate posting and those deciding whether to approve it.

There was also a lack of understanding around how such decisions are made, with long delays and little in the way of updates or information, and even uncertainty around who was actually responsible for making the decision.

“CAF members reported instances where their chain of command was unaware of the steps involved in the process and unable to identify the decision-making authority,” the report reads.

That uncertainty could explain why only about half of all requests between September 2017 and March 2021 were approved, Lick said.

The ombudsman’s report comes at a time when the Canadian Armed Forces is struggling to recruit and retain troops, with thousands of positions currently sitting vacant even as the military is facing significant demands at home and abroad.

Vice-chief of the defence staff Lt.-Gen. Frances Allen indicated last week that senior commanders are currently looking at how the military deals with postings and relocations in an effort to better balance military and family needs.

Lick acknowledged military leaders need to ensure Armed Forces members are where they need to be, but argued better accommodating families and those with special needs will help with recruitment and retention in the long run.

“It will show the public, who they're trying to recruit, that this is an organization that supports its members and their families better,” he said. “There may be a little bit of short-term pain. … But in the long run, these are the things they need to do.”

CTV News

by Jumper Mon 16 May 2022, 7:25 pm

Military failing to remove barriers to diversifying ranks: ombudsman

Lee Berthiaume · The Canadian Press · Posted: May 16, 2022

DND/CAF Ombudsman - Page 3 Military-hate-20200719

CBC News

by Covert Thu 09 Jun 2022, 8:47 am

Military ombudsman voices disappointment over Arbour report into sexual misconduct

The long-awaited Arbour report that urged the military to outsource sexual misconduct and harassment investigations is being criticized by the Canadian Forces ombudsman’s office.

By Tonda MacCharlesOttawa Bureau
Wed., June 8, 2022

OTTAWA—The long-awaited Arbour report that urged the military to outsource sexual misconduct and harassment investigations was welcomed by the Liberal government and the country’s top soldier, Gen. Wayne Eyre.

But its main recommendation — that no new additional layers of civilian oversight powers or independent reporting be created — did not sit well with the Canadian Forces ombudsman’s office.

Military ombudsman Gregory Lick, who has urged more independence for his office including to handle and report to Parliament sexual misconduct complaints and systemic issues, said in a statement to the Star he was hopeful the Arbour report is “the last on this issue.”

“It will all depend on how and how quickly the recommendations, if accepted, are implemented,” said Lick.

But he expressed deep-seated skepticism about whether it would bring change.

“We know, as an organization that makes recommendations to the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, that ‘agreement in principle’ does not always translate to effective action.”

The Louise Arbour report made 48 recommendations for outside input, which she said would bring much-needed “oxygen” into the military’s insular organization, and drive real-time change to restore trust and confidence in the military and its leadership.

The Liberal government has agreed to immediately move to implement a third, or 17, of the report’s recommendations, but says it needs to further study the rest so it can chart a road map for how to put them into place.

Nevertheless, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand said they “agree” with all of Arbour’s findings and recommendations.

Arbour’s main call was that civilian courts — not the military justice system — should handle all complaints of sexual assault or misconduct, while the Canadian Human Rights Commission should be the venue for systemic complaints of gender or sexual harassment.

Arbour, a retired Supreme Court of Canada judge, former UN war crimes prosecutor and human rights commissioner, did a deep dive into the military’s education, talent management and promotion, and justice systems.

She called for an overhaul of the military colleges at RMC Kingston and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, suggesting they are breeding grounds for toxic attitudes and harassment. Undergraduate education and training of future soldiers and officers should be left to the civilian education system, she believes.

And despite multiple calls for a new and more empowered civilian oversight mechanism for the military, Arbour expressly rejected the creation of another body or Inspector General’s Office that would report to Parliament — such as was recommended by the 1995 Somalia commission of inquiry into the torture and death of a Somali teen by members of the airborne regiment, and more recently by the Commons’ Status of Women committee looking at the ream of sexual misconduct allegations at the military’s senior leadership.

Arbour noted the Liberal government of the day created the ombudsman office in 1998, which reports to the minister, in lieu of an Inspector General’s Office.

She said there are already a myriad of internal and external mechanisms that provide varying degrees of civilian review, oversight or scrutiny of the Canadian Forces — everything from the internal grievance and complaints bodies, the military ombudsman, the courts, the media, parliamentary committees, and elected politicians.

Yet, nothing has significantly changed in a military culture that is insular, hierarchical, and allergic to outside advice, she said. Arbour said that if her recommendations are acted upon, change will come.

However, Lick also expressed disappointment that Arbour did not directly or “sufficiently” address his own calls for greater independence of his office, which Arbour said is not a “first responder” to sexual misconduct complaints.

“I, along with each of my predecessors over the past 24 years, have come to the same conclusion: we must be fully independent of the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces, and individual political leadership in order to effectively execute our mandate of civilian oversight and fairness monitor for the defence community.”

Instead, Lick said, justice Arbour “chose to voice her support for Justice (Morris) Fish’s recommendation of over a year ago that our office’s mandate be reviewed,” which he said will only produce further delays.

“More reviews are not necessary. Countless independent studies on this matter reveal the need for action as relates to the governance of this office.”

Arbour’s report cites the ombudsman’s description of his role as a direct source of information, referral, and education for the members and employees of the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Forces.

She noted it is “intended to be a neutral and independent investigator of issues brought by members of the defence community, who have exhausted existing avenues of redress within the system.”

Yet Arbour also underscores it is not where complainants first, or even lastly, turn for help. In 2018, the ombudsman office received 21 complaints relating to sexual misconduct. In 2019, there were 16, and in 2020, the complaints totalled 10. Nor is it an office that investigates systemic issues relating to sexual harassment and misconduct, although it has stated it intends to investigate diversity in the forces.

Tonda MacCharles is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @tondamacc

Toronto Star

by **Proctor** Tue 25 Oct 2022, 11:34 am

Ombudsman slams military's treatment of injured reservists, rangers

Published Oct. 25, 2022

DND/CAF Ombudsman - Page 3 Gregory-lick-1-6123655-1666694143527

CTV News

by Garrison Wed 06 Sep 2023, 11:18 am

Ombudsman says military underestimating mental health risks of domestic deployments

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Canada is underestimating the mental health impact domestic emergencies like wildfires and COVID-19 have had on the military reservists who respond to them, a new report says.

Gregory Lick, the Canadian Armed Forces ombudsman, said there are also gaps in health-care policies and a shortage of health professionals which put the military's 28,500 reservists at a disadvantage compared to regular force members.

Lick's report published Wednesday said that some reservists who tried to get mental health care through the military's health services were turned away because administrative staff were under the mistaken impression that reserve members did not have coverage.

"I have accessed military health services in my past and I would never have expected that," said Lick. "That really is a training or understanding issue that can be quickly addressed."

Not everything identified in the report is so easily fixed, he said.

"In military health services, the same as it is in Canadian society, one of the largest deficits in the resources available for mental health is that lack of people," he said.

That means wait times are long for military health services. The report said there is a biased belief that domestic operations have a lesser impact on mental health, and in some cases that has meant the Armed Forces is skipping pre-deployment screenings for reservists.

"I was a little bit surprised in terms of the amount of times that risk assessments were not done, the amount of waivers that people were given to deploy quickly," he said, though he conceded that "sometimes that has to occur when there's an emergency."

The military is being asked to respond to domestic emergencies more often, and the investigation found that about 65 per cent of military members did not get a medical screening for their most recent domestic operation.

Just 38 per cent of the people who said they had a medical screening within the last year were reserve members, and there's no system in place to flag when a health assessment is due.

That includes extremely difficult operations during COVID-19, when the military was called in to help in long-term care homes that were overwhelmed by the virus.

"They saw something really tragic in those homes. And that was one of the instigators, certainly, in why we looked at this particular issue," Lick said.

But being deployed to fight raging forest fires, to evacuate people from danger zones as flames move in, or to rescue people from rising floodwaters also takes a toll.

The Canadian Joint Operations Command and Canadian Forces Health System does not track reserve members after they're deployed, and it's less likely that one of their commanding officers will notice if their mental health is suffering.

"After a domestic deployments, many primary reserve members are on a part-time schedule and do not interact with their chain of command and peers daily," the report said.

The report calls for a slate of changes to be made by the fall of 2025 including formalizing post-deployment check-ins and strengthening the oversight of mental health screenings.

It was virtual care services expanded to provide better coverage for reservists who do not live near a base or wing and for more clear information be made available on what support reservists can access. For reservists who may only have access to the Armed Forces intranet system once or twice a week, Lick said it's particularly important to have benefits information available online.

The ombudsman's office began investigating the health and wellness of reserve force members in 2015 and says most of its previous recommendations have not been fully implemented.

As a result, there are inconsistent and unclear policies about accessing mental health supports.

Reservists' eligibility can vary depending on their class of employment, and the report found it's not always clear to them or their leadership what they are eligible to receive. Reservists are also only eligible for the Canadian Forces Members Assistance Program if they can "explain how the performance of their military duty relates to their condition," the report said.

Any member is able to get an assessment and referral from the program, but some care providers and reservists were unaware of that.

Lick said it's vitally important for the military to adopt a presumptive entitlement approach for its members, similar to what some provinces have done for first responders.

"Whether it's a police officer, (a firefighter) or perhaps involved in search and rescue, if you have a mental-health issue, you are presumed to have gotten it from that," he said.

Between April 2017 and March 2022, 6,124 reservists were deployed in Canada on nine operations. Since then, the military has had to quickly respond to floods, a major hurricane and record-breaking forest fires.

"We started this (investigation) before a lot of these forest fires that have really created a huge tragedy across the country," Lick said. "We never foresaw that."

"This report has come at a particularly important time."

CP24 News

by **Rockarm** Thu 19 Oct 2023, 6:30 am

Ombudsman blasts Ottawa's 'inadequate' efforts to help injured Afghan military advisers

Gregory Lick warns the situation is 'poised to become a shameful chapter in Canada's military history'

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Oct 19, 2023

DND/CAF Ombudsman - Page 3 Ns-bodies-found-veterans-20170105

CBC News

by **Accer** Tue 27 Feb 2024, 1:41 pm

Forces ombudsman calls on MPs to make his office independent of National Defence

Gregory Lick says he shouldn't be tied to the department he's supposed to oversee

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Feb 26, 2024

CBC News

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