May - June 2007 Volume 67, Number 3 SITREPSITREPA PUBLICATION OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MILITARY I NSTITUTE GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES PTE. LEONA CHAISSON, BASE IMAGING, CFB ESQUIMALT, CANADIAN FORCES COMBAT CAMERA Leading Seaman Sonya INSIDE THIS ISSUE Johannesen and Leading Seaman Carole Dubois on The Long Road to Gender Integration in the Canadian Armed Forces ................................. 3 board HMCS Regina off Government Procurement is Complex ................................................................................... 8 Shanghai. The Human Touch: A Canadian Liaison and Observation Team in Bosnia ................................................................................................ 10 The King’s Shilling: The British Campaigns in Malaya and Borneo .................................. 12 Unconventional Approaches to Diplomatic Theory ............................................................. 15 From the Editor’s Desk he mission in Afghanistan continues to attract the nation’s attention. The spring Taliban offensive predicted by the me- Tdia has not materialized. Injury and loss of life among our troops continues to result from IED and suicide bomber, not from an ROYAL CANADIAN MILITARY INSTITUTE increase in Taliban operations. The situation in Afghanistan is im- FOUNDED 1890 proving, yet if one listens to the public critics, one would think the PATRON mission is failing and that Canadian soldiers are somehow complicit Her Excellency The Right Honourable in the alleged mistreatment of Taliban detainees. Michaëlle Jean, CC, CMM, COM, CD Our challenge as discerning consumers of knowledge and information, when trying The Governor General of Canada to probe the murky waters of policy and the ‘opinions of publics’, is to somehow get a VICE PATRONS glimpse of reality. It seems the opposition parties cannot resist the temptation to play poli- The Honourable James K. Bartleman, OOnt tics with Afghanistan. The apparent buck-passing between government departments that The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario share the dossier concerning detainees is not an example of great governance and reflects The Honourable Dalton McGuinty, MPP The Premier of Ontario poorly on the accountability of our federal bureaucracy. General R. J. Hillier, CMM, MSC, CD The lead agency dealing with the Afghanistan file clearly must be the Department of The Chief of Defence Staff His Worship David Miller Foreign Affairs. But DFAIT has taken a back seat to DND. In January the PM named David The Mayor of Toronto Mulroney, an Associate Deputy Minister in Foreign Affairs and the PM’s foreign and de- fence policy adviser, to co-ordinate the all-of-government approach to our Afghanistan OFFICERS & DIRECTORS efforts. However Mulroney has been working only part-time on what is arguably the most LCol (ret’d) J. J. Dorfman, OMM, CD – President Maj Diane M. Kruger,CD – Vice President sensitive issue facing Canada and the present government. Canada deserves better. Lt(N) (ret’d) James P. McReynolds – Secretary The only real ‘escalation’ in the Afghanistan mission appears to be on the political Mr. John J. Ball – Treasurer LCol (ret’d) James Breithaupt, KStJ, CD, QC – Director stage here at home, aided and abetted by uninformed or opinionated media coverage. Those LCol (ret’d) Peter W. Hunter, CD – Director who call for less combat and more reconstruction fail to recognize that most of our recent HCapt(N) Chris Korwin-Kuczynski – Director Michael Wm. Leahy, Ph.D – Director casualties have been sustained by the Provincial Reconstruction Team. Maj (ret’d) David Mezzabotta, CD – Director Recognizing the continuing need for the tank, the welcome announcement to upgrade LCol (ret’d) John A. Selkirk, CD – Director our tank fleet with the Leopard 2A4, has resulted in your ‘Black Hat’ Editor searching for LCol (ret’d) Michael A. Stevenson, CD – Director another “windmill to attack!” EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND EDITOR Since our last issue, the Defence Studies Committee hosted the Honourable Bob Rae Col (ret’d) Chris Corrigan, CD, MA to a speaker’s luncheon where he shared his views on “Canada’s Military Role Abroad for the 21st Century.” From the Institute’s perspective it was important that a senior Canadian PAST PRESIDENT political actor share with us his views on this important subject. HLCol Matthew Gaasenbeek III In this issue, Lieutenant-Colonel Jenny Newton explores the long-needed and wel- HONORARIES comed gender integration of the military caused by the evolution in human rights legisla- Col (ret’d) John Clarry, MBE, ED, CD, QC tion and societal change, while Dr. Craig Stone, one of Canada’s leading academics in the Honorary President field of defence procurement, presents a critical status report on the complex nature of LCol (ret’d) Bruce W. Savage, CD Honorary Curator procurement and the lack of a national defence industrial strategy. Dr. Desmond Morton, OC Lieutenant Gabriel Granatstein takes us back to Bosnia with an update on Canada’s Honorary Historian Mr. Arthur Manvell ongoing contribution to the European Union Force mission. Sunil Ram takes a historical Honorary Librarian look at what the British called “Brushfire Wars.” Fought throughout the Imperial period of Chaplains Capt The Rev. Mark L. Sargent, CD the western world, these wars involved small armies fighting desperate and bloody engage- The Rev Michael Bechard ments around the globe. Garrett Jones, a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research General Manager Institute, provides a refreshing perspective on diplomatic theory and practice through great- Mr. Michael T. Jones power glasses. Director of Communications/Assistant Editor The Defence Studies Committee is always receptive to new members. If you wish to Mr. Eric S. Morse pursue defence and security issues in greater depth, consider joining us. Contributing Editor Prof. Sunil Ram Sincerely, OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MILITARY INSTITUTE 426 University Avenue, Colonel (Ret’d) Chris Corrigan Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1S9 Editor and Chair Defence Studies Committee 416-597-0286/1-800-585-1072 Fax: 416-597-6919 Editorial E-Mail: [email protected] Copyright © 2006 RCMI ISSN 0316-5620 SITREP may be fully reproduced in whole or in part for academic research or Website: www.rcmi.org institutional purposes, provided that the author’s and the institute’s copyright is acknowledged. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the Institute or its members. 2 SITREP THE LONG ROAD TO GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE CANADIAN ARMED FORCES by LCol Jenny Newton, CD s a female member of the Canadian Forces Reserves for By 1970, a controlled ceiling of 1500 servicewomen had twenty-six years, I have been directly affected by the been established in the newly unified Canadian Armed Forces Adefence policies surrounding the employment of women and, in the same year, the government had formed a Royal Com- in the Forces. During my service, I have seen barriers denying mission of the Status of Women. One of this commission’s tasks women entry into military colleges and into combat roles, and I was to look at the employment conditions of women in the mili- have seen these same barriers torn down allowing women full tary. By the following year, the Commission had made six sig- access to these educational institutions and to these non-tradi- nificant recommendations in its report governing the employment tional roles. I hypothesize that, until 1989, elitists maintained the of military women. These included: barriers denying Canadian women full access to combat-related units and occupations and that these discriminatory policies were 1. Standardized enrolment criteria [including equal initial eventually removed as a result of the feminist contributions to engagement periods]; Canadian policies. Due to limitations in word length, this article 2. Equal pension benefits for men and women; will cover the historical roles of women between 1970 and 2003. 3. Entry for women into the Canadian Military Colleges; Canadian women have made enormous contributions to the 4. Opening of all trades and classifications to women; Canadian Forces over the last eighty-five years. Not only have 5. Termination of practices of prohibiting married women from they won numerous medals and awards as well as recognition, enrolling; and, they have also sacrificed their lives for the nation. What follows 6. Termination of practices of releasing servicewomen on the focuses on the roles and policies, the impact of the Canadian birth of a child. Human Rights Code, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Royal Commission on the Status of Women on the CF policies At a meeting of the Canadian Forces Defence Council, the between 1970-1989, and the gender policies of today. Minister of National Defence accepted most of these recommen- Although Canadian women served valiantly in all three dations, however, with certain caveats. First, women would be forces between 1919 and 1969, they were nevertheless thought eligible for all trades in the CF except those in the combat arms, of as replacements for servicemen or as additional civilian work- in remote areas and at sea. Second, women would not be allowed ers. Their continued employment in the military was repeatedly to enter the Military Colleges, as these colleges produced combat questioned and on numerous occasions, it was even suggested arms officers, but would be entitled to subsidies at other educa- that their service be terminated. It is my contention that external tional