New Canadian Armed Forces policy on hateful conduct

To address racism, discrimination and hateful conduct the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has released Monday July 13th a new policy in the form of amending DAOD 5019-0, Conduct and Performance Deficiencies adding a broad definition of what hateful conduct is.

According to the new policy, “hateful conduct” is:

An act or conduct, including the display or communication of words, symbols or images, by a CAF member, that they knew or ought reasonably to have known would constitute, encourage, justify or promote violence or hatred against a person or persons of an identifiable group, based on their national or ethnic origin, race, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics or disability.

This article from Mrs. Karen Pauls, CBC, reports that military leadership expects the new policy would help “to address the systemic racism and discrimination that have permeated our ranks”.

A recent high-profile case of extremism has brought attention. Last January, FBI arrested Patrick Mathews, a former CAF reservist who allegedly was a recruiter in the US for a white-supremacist group. Brigadier-General Sylvain Ménard explained that after the arrest, it was necessary to work with military lawyers to legally coin the expression “hateful conduct”.

Among the new measures, there will be a system to monitor and track alleged incidents with an emphasis on training and awareness campaigns. CAF members violating the policy are exposed to a range of  sanctions up and including criminal charges.

While the reaction is generally positive as considered a step in the right direction, some have raised concerns. For example Tony McAleer - former skinhead, former airborne infantryman and now co-founder of the non-profit organization ‘Life After Hate’ - would have expected “more stringent screening processes for recruits and reservists”.

Of note, it seems the enumeration of discriminatory motives of the definition is exhaustive. In comparison with section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, there is no “in particular” or “notably” which would indicates that other discriminatory motive of the same nature could be included. For example, there is no mention that violence and hatred against a group can be based on language.