Response from MND: Request for an Inquiry into Racism
28 February 2020
Mr. Gregory Lick
National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces Ombudsman
Office of the Ombudsman
100 Metcalfe Street, 12th Floor
Ottawa ON K1P 5M1
Dear Mr. Lick:
Thank you for your letter dated February 6th, 2020, in response to my letter of July 29, 2019, in which I requested that your office identify actions that could be taken to investigate racism and racist-related activities within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Department of National Defence (DND). As outlined in my previous letter, I believe it is imperative that we build a military that looks like Canada and is a strong, diverse organization that identifies and deals with any issues of racism or intolerance within it.
In your recent letter you stated that you will not be assessing the prevalence of racism within the Department of National Defence or the Canadian Armed Forces. I disagree with your conclusion in this regard.
It is important that we have a complete understanding and analysis of the extent of any racist-related issues that need to be corrected within the DND or the CAF. This requires an in-depth understanding of how often racist incidents occur and what effects those incidents have on individuals and the organization. If you do not look at the issues of prevalence and impact and only review administrative fairness, it will not allow your office to provide the complete analysis that I seek.
I also note that your letter referenced the Ministerial Directives stating that they prohibited your office from investigating any matter in which there may be an allegation of criminal activity. On this matter, I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting that you investigate criminal activity. Indeed, that is never the role of the Ombudsman and none of your undertakings should ever interfere or conflict with the Judge Advocate General’s ability to administer military justice where and when required.
This understanding does not, however, limit your ability to conduct an investigation in the broad context that is required for a true comprehension of the prevalence and impact of racist conduct with the CAF or DND institutions. Further, with regard to the Directives, I would bring your attention to Section 1 under Construction which states:
“Nothing in these directives shall be constructed as restricting the authority of the Minister to make requests of, or give direction to, the Ombudsman on matters with respect to the Department of National Defence (DND) or the Canadian Forces (CF).”
It is in this context that I am requesting you to undertake the study suggested, which should be conducted with reasonable limitations regarding investigating potential criminal activity, while including racist-related activities, such as hate speech and membership in groups espousing or promoting extreme and violent racist ideologies. I am confident that you can apply your investigative expertise in these areas, while respecting the aforementioned administration of military justice, or for that matter the criminal justice system, should they be uncovered in any individual case.
If your hesitation in this matter is an issue of resources, I request that your office provide the Deputy Minister with an outline of what additional resources would be required to conduct a comprehensive and representative survey of members of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence to inform your findings on this issue.
As discussed on our phone call, I look forward to finding a way forward on this issue.
Yours sincerely,
The Hon. Harjit S. Sajjan, PC, OMM, MSM, CD, MP