Members of a support group for military sexual assault survivors are launching a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian Armed Forces.
Several members of the military sexual trauma (MST) peer-support group, called 鈥淚t鈥檚 Just 700,鈥� filed a notice of action in Ontario Superior Court on Monday. In court documents, the group alleges that the military systemically failed to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment and protect its members.
The group also alleges that the military discouraged victims from reporting incidents, failed to investigate ones that were reported and retaliated against armed forces members who did come forward.
The notice of action was filed on the same day which found that sexual assault was more likely to occur in the Canadian military than in the general population.
The law firm representing the group鈥檚 plaintiffs, Raven Law, wrote on its website that the group decided to initiate legal proceedings 鈥渋n an effort to change a system that condones sexual misconduct and punishes victims instead of perpetrators.鈥�
A Department of National Defence spokesperson says that the military is looking into the matter.
鈥淥nce served, the Government will study the Statement of Claim in detail to determine next steps,鈥� according to the statement emailed to 麻豆传媒 on Wednesday.
was created in March 2015 and currently has 106 members, including nine men.
In a news release issued Tuesday, the group took issue with the Statistics Canada survey, which found that 1.7 per cent of regular force members and 2.6 per cent of reservists, or part-time members, said they were sexually assaulted in the last year.
The group said the rates of sexual misconduct should be much higher because 鈥渒ey military groups,鈥� such as members who were taking courses or have been released from the armed forces, were excluded. It鈥檚 Just 700 also claims that the continued stigma associated with reporting sexual misconduct skewed the results of the survey.
