The Canadian Armed Forces has been deploying “gender advisors” to international operations, including in Ukraine and Haiti, as part of a broader push to integrate gender ideology into military activities abroad.
This initiative, highlighted in the Department of National Defence’s recently released 2024 Departmental Report, is drawing sharp criticism from veterans and observers who question its relevance during active conflicts and humanitarian crises.
The latest departmental report emphasized the CAF’s commitment to gender-based analysis plus – a commitment introduced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into policy-making across all government departments.
According to the report, “gender advisors” and “gender focal points” were dispatched to Canadian military missions in Poland, Ukraine, Haiti, and Latvia throughout 2023.
“In Poland, the Task Force Gender Advisor was involved in all aspects of this training mission and supported the local Defence Attaché in connecting with local and Ukraine-based non-governmental organizations and interested parties,” reads the report.
Additionally, the report notes that in Haiti, “intersectional factors (were) being applied towards stabilization and humanitarian efforts.”
“Under Operations HORIZON and PROJECTION, ships’ crews and augmentees employed GBA Plus to keep CAF members safe and effective and, working alongside the United States and other military partners, to build capacity and awareness within the Indo-Pacific region,” the report continues.
The initiative is part of Canada’s third National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security for 2023-2029, which aims to bolster the integration of gender concepts into the execution of military operations.
According to the action plan, there are three full-time gender advisors embedded in the CAF at the strategic and operational levels. All missions receive at least a part-time Gender Focal Point.
“A Gender Advisor is a full-time position, usually a military position, and a Gender Focal Point is a part-time position; these exist to support Commanders in the application of GBA+ and gender perspectives in both the institutional and operational realms. Gender Focal Points are positioned throughout CAF. In-theatre, there is a minimum of one GFP on all named missions,” explains a Department of National Defence report.
However, some critics argue that such policies misplace priorities and add unnecessary bureaucracy to military operations.
Andrew MacGillivray, president of Veterans for Freedom, criticized the growing emphasis on gender analysis within the armed forces in a comment to True North, calling it an unwelcome distraction.
“GBA was initially created to factor in female characteristics into the procurement of military materiel and has since been transformed into a useless overbearing policy that has infiltrated every aspect of the Canadian Armed Forces,” said MacGillivray.
MacGillivray questioned the utility of these efforts in the field, particularly in high-stakes environments. “I doubt that countries at war or in a humanitarian crisis that we are trying to help care about gender nonsense being pushed by Canada when they are struggling to keep people alive,” he added.
The Department of National Defence did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
