Systemic sexual violence in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) is rooted in a deeply entrenched and continuously reinforced organizational culture of gendered power structures, hypersexualization and extreme pressures for conformity. Despite a decade of formal data collection on sexual misconduct, the CAF today cannot accurately determine its prevalence and associated trends or the effectiveness of prevention initiatives. While several external authorities have problematized the data deficiencies evident in sexual misconduct reporting, monitoring and tracking, the CAF has not reckoned with identified issues in data fragmentation, data not fit for purpose and non-compliance in data governance. The newly announced hateful conduct database is intended to address these issues but is poised to replicate existing gaps. A number of progressive organizational data strategies collectively articulate the CAF’s commitments to modernization, the employment of technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, and an analytics-driven institutionalized governance model. However, these strategies appear limited to the domains of intelligence and operational data, despite their organization-wide jurisdiction and potential for addressing sexual misconduct data issues, thereby reflecting a historic pattern of resistance to culture change under the guise of preoccupations with national security.
