OTTAWA – A military inquiry has concluded that Canadian soldiers were not instructed to ignore incidents of Afghan soldiers and interpreters sexually assaulting young boys.
The board of inquiry also said the Forces could have taken action on how to handle possible abuse of minors in 2006 but not enough information was shared between soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and commanders back in Canada.
It would take two years for the Forces to act and that only happened after one soldier went to the media with allegations of a cover up.
The board of inquiry’s report into the allegations was completed in 2010 but it took six years for the chief of defence staff to sign off and make it public.
The delay is attributed to the scope of the recommendations and competing military priorities.
But the report notes the military has been working since 2008 to resolve the issue of how allegations of this nature should be handled, including a directive sent that year from the chief of defence staff that soldiers had the authority and responsibility to report any incidents of abuse.
