MEP: A survey was released on Monday indicating some 960 members of the Canadian military reported being victims of sexual assault in the last year, usually by a superior.
The survey conducted by Canada’s national statistics agency said 1.7 percent of regular force members of the military had been sexually assaulted in the past 12 months. While just 0.9 percent of Canadian citizens reported being sexually assaulted in the last year.
840 military members reported unwanted sexual touching, 150 reported sexual attack, and 110 sexual activity without consent, the survey added.
More than half of the Canadian army participated in the survey.
The survey results, which featured a response rate of 61 percent, necessarily failed to account for the 39 percent of those who did not respond. The number of sexual assault victims reported by the study could be a significant underestimation of the real measure, since victims of sexual assault can feel uncomfortable talking about the incidents.
The survey, the first of its kind in Canada, was commissioned last year by General Jonathan Vance, Canada’s chief of the defense staff. Vance has said the results of the survey were both expected and sobering.
