LIES THIS RECRUITER TOLD YOU

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It is time to come clean.

It is time I apologized to all those wonderful young (and not so young) Canadians who had asked me the question "'What about Harassment"? "What if I'm injured"?

It is time I apologized to all those parents whom I looked straight in the eye and said "Don't Worry, We Take Care Of Them, I Promise".

I was a Canadian Forces Recruiter for 4 years from 2000-2004 in Northern Alberta. My mandate was Post-Secondary Instituitions, Secondary Schools, and at times, Aboriginal and Minority Recruiter. During my tenure, I had been asked about Harassment and what happens if a person is injured nearly every day, most days on several occasions.

Having been harassed myself and sexually assaulted, I covered up my embarrassing episode and told applicants that it does not happen anymore and if it does, it is dealt with severely. Having also been injured, I told them that everything would be fixed or compensated for.

After leaving the Recruiting Centre, I was posted back to the "real military world" and within six months was being harassed, along with one of my soldiers. I complained on several occasions and it was taken care of: I was moved to another unit and replaced with a person who was on the brink of being charged with harassment and shortly after arriving in my position, was once again harassing the staff of my former office.

In 2006, I became ill. I could not believe that the military that I loved would let this happen again. The stress of what had happened pushed me over the limit and I suffered a stroke.

While trying to recover from the effects of the stroke, I asked to work at the Recruiting Centre due to not being able to do much except talk and I was excited about the opportunity to do my part again. But when the same questions of harassment came up again, this soldier had to lie in order to keep applicants from walking out the door.

I removed myself from that situation. I pass on my sincere apologies to anyone who heard my enthusiastic speeches, listened to my tales of excitement about the Canadian Forces, and joined only to be harassed since then or injured and had to fight for compensation, just as I am still doing, after being denied time and again.

My career is over, ripped apart by the stupidity of a few soldiers and bureaucrats who do not share the same respect for people as most soldiers do. I hope you never fall prey to those few and I pray that you have an exciting and rewarding career serving this great country, just as I promised you.