Defence representatives

Roles and responsibilities

Defence representatives are CAF members and DND public service employees. Their work in the program is to first acknowledge and learn from the experiences, impacts and insights of those who have been harmed by sexual misconduct. Then, they plan and prepare to take meaningful action to contribute to culture change within CAF/DND.

Defence representatives commit to:

• listening with an open mind and considering multiple and conflicting perspectives
• participating actively in reflective learning activities
• learning to engage restoratively and without causing harm
• carrying what they learn forward into their career within the institution
• contributing to preventing sexual misconduct in the Defence Team and culture change beyond their time in this program

Ways to participate

Defence representatives participate in groups, called cohorts, of CAF members and DND public service employees of diverse professions, backgrounds, and identify factors. There are four options for participating in a cohort, they vary by the time commitment required and the ranks/levels included.

All the following options were designed with awareness of the unique spheres of influence those ranks/levels have in contributing to culture change.

Options 1 and 2

• For Defence Team members of any rank/level
• Designed for Defence representatives to learn skills to contribute to culture change in their own contexts across the whole institution
• Option to participate in individual and group engagements

Option 3

• For senior leaders
• Designed for Defence representatives to learn skills to support culture change efforts by those they directly supervise
• Option to participate in individual and possible group engagements

Option 4

• For executives
• Designed for Defence representatives to learn skills to support culture change efforts of those they supervise and at the institutional level
• Themed Executive group engagement process

Defence Representative Alumni Community

• For Defence representative who have completed their time in one of the four cohort options
• Designed as an opportunity for Defence representative alumni to continue to engage with restorative approaches, network with DR Alumni from other cohorts, and collaborate on culture evolution activities 
• Option to participate in individual and group engagements

Cohort work is facilitated by restorative practitioners. Defence representatives are essential agents of culture change within the institution; it is expected DRs will take meaningful action to address sexual misconduct through their participation in RE. To this end, Defence representative participation in the program has been carefully designed, using a restorative approach, to maximize Defence representative learning, planning and action, in real time.

Defence representatives may engage with class members during their time in cohort. Engagement sessions are one of several ways of learning in this program about sexual misconduct; they will have many opportunities to learn from class members’ experiences throughout the program (readings, videos, class member submissions etc.).

Participating in RE Program may bring up difficult emotions. Defence representatives can reach out to other members of their cohort or to their management for support. They may also look at the program’s support services and resources.

Defence leadership’s role

Members of the CAF chain of command and DND executives and management support implementation of the program by:

• promoting the recruitment of Defence representatives
• encouraging potential Defence representatives to take part by nominating them and by self-nominating to join a cohort
• providing Defence representatives with a confidential workplace and equipment for cohort participation
• ensuring that Defence representatives are not tasked with other duties during their participation in the full-time portions of the program
• engaging with Defence representatives about what they’ve learned through the program, how they plan to take that forward in their career and into their workplace, and what they need from leadership to support their efforts in culture change
• supporting Defence representatives in carrying forward their individual leadership plans to action culture change within CAF/DND