Military sexual assault survivors say Bill C-11 will leave them with less choice

Donna Van Leusden, co-founder of the Survivor Perspectives Consulting Group, is among a group of survivors of military sexual misconduct set to testify Tuesday before a Senate committee studying the bill.

“We’ve been telling them since the very beginning — you need to be giving survivors more choice, not less,” she said.

“Now the bill is continuing along, all of our input again was ignored or pulled out of it.”

Second reading amendments to the legislation would have established that those alleging sexual misconduct could choose between a court martial or a civil court.

But the Liberals, who now command a majority in the House of Commons, restored the original version of the bill in May and passed it through third reading.

Sen. Rebecca Patterson, a Canadian Armed Forces veteran, has called on senators to consider putting a sunset clause in the bill to force the government to review and renew the law after a few years.

The Liberal government has indicated it’s open to the Senate amending the bill to add a sunset clause.

Van Leusden said she worries about transferring these cases to an already overburdened civilian criminal justice system.

Wood also said she worries about whether civilian police have the capacity to take on cold cases, and whether military members would still go to local police about sexual harassment incidents less severe than rape.

Defence Minister David McGuinty promoted the bill before a Senate committee Monday as a force for cultural change within the armed forces.

“Survivors should have access to the same legal protections and processes available to every other Canadian,” McGuinty told senators.

The law follows on several past recommendations from Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour, who led an independent review in 2022 that found Canadian Armed Forces members did not trust their own military justice system to handle these cases.

Arbour was sworn into her new role on Monday, which also makes her the commander-in-chief of Canada.

In her speech at the ceremony in Ottawa on Monday installing her in the viceregal post, Arbour cited efforts to step up military recruitment and bring in more “diverse genders, backgrounds and perspectives.”

Arbour did not name this bill in her speech, nor did she testify before Parliament during its study.

But she also said in her Monday speech that “significant progress is also being made within the forces to foster inclusion with dignity” as the military undergoes modernization.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2026.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Military sexual assault survivors say Bill C-11 will leave them with less choice

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