June 6, 2015 - Ottawa - The new Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada, Brigadier-General Sean Friday, issued the following statement today:
“Officer Cadets at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMCC) are young Canadians that must learn and embrace the ethos of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the military values of duty, loyalty, integrity and courage. RMCC provides them the training and education upon which their service commitment to Canada is founded.
“As future leaders of the CAF and as students in a post-secondary institution, we expect our Officer Cadets to demonstrate respect and attentiveness at all times. We place the highest priority on proper conduct and maintaining a positive environment based on respect and trust that is free from harassment and discrimination.
“Any allegation of sexual misconduct at RMCC concerns me greatly and we are disturbed by recent such allegations. Sexual misconduct is reprehensible and completely antithetical to the values we hold in the military. While the overwhelming majority of Officer Cadets uphold our strong values, even one incident is unacceptable. I am committed to ensuring that we are doing all that we can to inculcate the highest values, ethics and conduct norms.
“To this end, RMCC has incorporated focussed harassment and sexual misconduct training and will further advance this training for the fall session as part of our Sexual Misconduct and Harassment Prevention Response Plan. In addition, the CAF Strategic Response Team on Sexual Misconduct, led by Lieutenant-General Chris Whitecross, will be visiting RMCC in the fall as part of their cross-country town hall series to raise awareness of inappropriate sexual behaviour in the CAF and to outline the action plan developed in response to the External Review Authority’s Report on Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment. I look forward to hearing feedback from this team, and from staff, faculty and Officer Cadets, so that we can continue to improve our resilience to the serious issue of sexual misconduct.
“We will continue to hold offenders accountable and ensure leaders, supervisors and bystanders fulfill their duties when it comes to responding to incidents or concerns. Effective, caring and compassionate victim support services will continue to be available. I am committed to ensuring RMCC is an institution Canadians can continue to be proud of.”
Brigadier-General Sean Friday
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