OTTAWA — The military has launched a purge of its classroom materials after several offensive cartoons, including some featuring women in degrading sexual situations, were used in courses for soldiers headed to Afghanistan.
The drawings were part of presentations provided to instructors at the Canadian Defence Academy in Kingston, Ont.
One cartoon, intended as an example of reading body language, shows a woman at a bar piled with empty glasses engaged in a sexual act with a man on a barstool.
The caption reads: “How to tell when you don’t have to buy her any more drinks. ...”
Another cartoon shows a senior male officer suggesting to a female sergeant that she become a “bargaining chip” in arms talks — a reference to her submission to a sexual act.
Some of the materials also contain cartoons that make light of the detainee controversy.
One depicts a detainee lounging in a beach chair, being fed grapes and fanned by soldiers — apparently a satire on rules that require humane treatment of captured combatants.
These and other illustrations are sprinkled through Canadian Forces training materials obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
The manuals, PowerPoint presentations and other classroom materials were created by the defence academy to instruct trainers giving courses in “Conduct After Capture.”
The three-week courses, which inform soldiers about how to behave if captured by the enemy, have been offered since 2007 and are mandatory for those deploying to Afghanistan or any other conflict zone.
The courses are also offered to civilians, such as diplomats in the Foreign Affairs Department and development workers.
In addition to the illustrations featuring women and the detainees, some fall into the category of potty humour.
One cartoon shows a man sitting in a urinal, telling a janitor he has diarrhea.
The officer in charge of “Conduct After Capture” training acknowledged the cartoons are offensive.
But Lt.-Col. Lloyd Gillam said he believes the illustrations appeared only in draft versions of the training materials and never made it into the classroom, where there are male and female students.
“To the best of my knowledge, there are no cartoons of that nature in our training package right now,” Gillam said in an interview from Kingston, Ont.
The Canadian Press asked for “teaching materials provided to individuals enrolled in the ‘Conduct After Capture’ instructor course.”
Gillam suggested an overzealous information officer provided the news agency with early versions, not those in current use.
Nevertheless, the images — obtained from “open sources” such as the Internet — should not have appeared in any version, he said.
“When we look at the cartoons ... the offensive ones, we agree (they) should not have been used.”
Now that the problem illustrations have been brought to light, Gillam said, his office has begun a review of all classroom materials.
“We are taking an extra step now to go through our files on everything to search out that stuff, so just to ensure that this kind of mistake doesn’t occur again.”
Gillam added that the person responsible for inserting the offensive cartoons into the teaching material left the military several months ago, though the departure had nothing to do with the improper images. He said there have been no complaints from anyone about the cartoons.
A Canadian author who has written extensively about male culture in sport, comparing it with the military, said images depicting women as sex objects are not surprising in an organization that nurtures masculine power, aggression and violence.
“What is surprising is that usually, by now, it’s a bit underground and it’s not officially sanctioned,” Laura Robinson said in an interview from Vancouver.
“They always give as an excuse that it’s a couple of bad apples when something happens, when women are sexually objectified ... I don’t agree with that at all. ... A lot of rogues makes a pattern.”
Robinson noted one of the justifications for Canada’s military role in Afghanistan is to bring equality to women. Many military recruits believe in such goals, she said, but soon become corrupted by a narrow male subculture that views women as sexual commodities.