One of the most senior female soldiers in Canada has resigned after a string of allegations of sexual misconduct among top brass, saying she was “sickened” by the military’s repeated failures to tackle the abuse.
In a letter sent to her superiors, Lt Col Eleanor Taylor announced her resignation late on Tuesday, in the latestblow to an institution already in crisis.
“I have spent the past decade speaking publicly and passionately about the gains women have made in the [armed forces],” she wrote. Taylor, a combat veteran of the Afghanistan war, who also served with the special forces, has long been seen as a role model in the military. “While I remain fiercely proud of parts of our organization, on the issue of addressing harmful sexual behaviour, we have lost all credibility.”
In recent months, Canada’s military has been shaken by allegations of sexual misconduct among senior officers, including against its two leaders.
In late February, Adm Art McDonald, Canada’s chief of defence staff, stepped down after an investigation was opened into his conduct. McDonald, who began his new role by vowing to crack down on sexual misconduct in the military, was less than two months into the job. McDonald has not commented on the allegations against him, citing the ongoing investigation.
His predecessor, the former chief of the defence staff Gen Jonathan Vance, is also facing an investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct. He has denied all allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
A parliamentary committee is investigating allegations of high-level sexual misconduct, and both the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and his longtime defence minister, Harjit Sajjan, have faced criticism for their handling of previous allegations against senior officials.
Sajjan learned of allegations against Vance in 2018, according to a former military ombudsman, but told lawmakers he refused to hear any further details so he could avoid “political interference”.
Amid growing calls for his resignation, Sajjan has said he will continue to take action on allegations of misconduct that are brought forward “no matter the rank, no matter the position”.
In her resignation letter, Taylor said that throughout her career she had witnessed “insidious and inappropriate use of power for sexual exploitation”, but she admitted that she had been a part of a system that allowed abuse to perpetuate.
“I have been both a victim of, and participant in, this damaging cycle of silence, and I am proud of neither,” she wrote.
Megan MacKenzie, a professor at Simon Fraser University who specializes in military culture, said that Taylor’s letter reflected a much broader problem.
“For every lieutenant colonel who makes a public resignation, there are hundreds of women and men leaving the institution every year because it’s a violent and unsafe workplace,” she said. “And while she’s incredibly brave for doing so publicly, we often ignore what she’s saying: that it’s a systemic problem. Without significant structural change, nothing’s going to get fixed.”
MacKenzie said the issue of sexual misconduct and assault in the military – and government unwillingness to fully confront – it goes back decades, with each government hoping to survive each scandal.
“And largely, they’ve been successful at doing that.”
MacKenzie said she hoped Taylor’s letter would highlight the extent of abuse in the military – and the steep cost that comes with it.
“In any crisis like this with high-profile figures, they are always just the tip of the iceberg,” said MacKenzie. “And what we often miss is the need to look at the iceberg itself.”