Allan English

Cultural dissonance: ethical considerations from Afghanistan

Abstract The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) includes ethical decision-making as part of its professional development program. However, the limitations of the CAF professional development program in ethical decision-making become evident when CAF members must deal with coalition members whose ethical norms differ significantly from those of the CAF. A number of recent cases in the Afghanistan mission highlight these limitations. This article examines the ethical dilemmas faced by senior Canadian decision-makers in one such case. When confronted with numerous reports, starting as early as 2005, by members of the CAF to the chain of command of incidents of sexual assault of boys by Afghan forces, senior decision-makers were faced with choices that could fall within a continuum of actions. At one end of the continuum was to take immediate and forceful action based on Canadian values. At the other end was to take no action since the attitude of most coalition partners was to do nothing because they accepted that this practice had been “common” in Afghanistan’s culture. The article discusses the actions of senior Canadian decision-makers in this case and focuses on whether or not the CAF professional development program adequately prepared them for their decision-making role in this type of ethical dilemma.

Corruption in the Canadian military? Destroying trust in the chain of command

ABSTRACT Corruption is often seen as being caused by internally motivated greed leading to prohibited acts in contravention of laws, rules and regulations. However, corruption may also be defined as “dishonest action that destroys people’s trust.” Building on research conducted by scholars examining this phenomenon in the United States military, this article explores questionable actions, which are externally motivated by systemic factors embedded in the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), by senior leaders in the CAF that can destroy trust in its chain of command. It analyzes two case studies, the Deschamps report into sexual misconduct in the CAF and the Board of Inquiry into Afghan sexual assaults witnessed by CAF members, to identify some key themes and areas for future research into how the lack of trust in the chain of command has impacted negatively on the CAF’s professionalism and culture.