The Canadian Armed Forces will end its 'inflexible and inhuman' mandatory reporting policy this winter, its chief of professional conduct and culture said on Wednesday.
"The repeal of duty to report will not limit a member's ability to report incidents," she said. "The intention is to remove the obligation to report." [...]
But she found victims were sometimes uncertain if they could confide in someone else, including health-care providers and chaplains, without triggering their duty to report.
The provision "creates considerable fear and anguish, and has obviously never achieved its intended purpose of ensuring an appropriate response to sexual misconduct by the chain of command," Arbour wrote, in concluding that the duty to report should be abolished when it comes to sexual misconduct.
Sounds like this is an issue more to do with maintaining confidence and ensuring that people are protected, post reports. I'm not sure the complete removal of the policy is the answer here.
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