Sexualized jokes, “microaggressions” and other inappropriate behaviour continue within Canada's military despite a decade-long effort to change workplace culture, according to a Department of National Defence report.The report, Evaluation Of Defence Team Culture, said overt misconduct has become less acceptable since DND began its culture-change campaign in 2015, but investigators found less obvious behaviour continues to affect military and civilian workplaces.“While there is increasing awareness of inappropriate behaviour and language in the defence team, exclusionary behaviour continues to affect workplace psychological safety and inclusion,” said the report, which was based on hundreds of interviews.Researchers said sexualized jokes and other comments can be difficult to identify and discipline.“Subtle cases of inappropriate conduct such as sexualized jokes and microaggressions are often overlooked,” they wrote.Investigators said Armed Forces members generally recognize when jokes have gone too far and pull back, but inappropriate comments are more likely to occur in informal settings. Blacklock's Reporter said behaviour also tends to change when senior personnel are present, according to the report.“Professional conduct has improved with overt misconduct less tolerated than a decade ago,” researchers wrote.However, the report said “microaggressions, exclusionary comments and informal ‘grey zone’ behaviour” continue to undermine what DND describes as psychological safety.DND launched efforts in 2015 to address what it called “problematic behaviour” among soldiers, sailors, air crew and civilian employees..The latest evaluation found attitudes toward women have improved but said barriers remain.“Inclusion is not yet embedded,” researchers wrote. “Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are often seen as performative when leadership modeling and middle management engagement are weak.”The report did not provide specific examples of the jokes or comments investigators considered inappropriate.Interviewees also questioned whether personnel accused of problematic behaviour were being held accountable.“Many interviewees perceived that members who exhibit problematic behaviour continue to advance,” said the report. “According to interviewees, their low trust in the institution is strongly linked to the lack of visible accountability.”One interviewee said conduct had nevertheless changed significantly compared with previous years.“Compared to the past when misogynistic or racist language was common among trainers and passed down to recruits, I don’t see that happening now,” the person said.Another was more critical of military leadership.“Leaders say the right things but they are not walking the talk,” the interviewee said. “It is all talk.”Other personnel interviewed for the evaluation described DND as “primarily white” and an “overwhelmingly white, male-dominated organization.”Another interviewee said there was insufficient education concerning sexual minority issues, including slurs and accommodations.The evaluation also questioned the effectiveness of DND's culture training.“While the breadth of culture training has expanded, defence team buy-in is uneven and perceived as a compliance exercise,” researchers wrote. “Even when effective training is available, uptake is low.”DND said in a Management Action Plan that it intends to improve the handling of complaints and strengthen collection of data used to track outcomes by 2027.“A revised program work plan is approved,” the department said.
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