The Politics of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and the Canadian Forces, between the 1960s and the 1990s

Interdisciplinary, unpaid research opportunities are available. Various academic specialties are required. If interested, email me at
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1
The Politics of Gender, Sexual Orientation, and the Canadian Forces, between
the 1960s and the 1990s
By Oleg Nekrassovski
Introduction
According to Huntington’s definition, subjective civilian control of the military involves
maximizing the power of some particular civilian group or groups in relation to the military. The
aim of such an approach to civil-military relations may be a genuine attempt to minimize the
power of the military because it is seen as being dangerous to the civilian society (Huntington,
1959, p. 80-85). However, because of the “large number, varied character, and conflicting
interests of civilian groups,” it is impossible to increase the power of one civilian faction relative
to the military, without also increasing its power relative to other civilian factions. Moreover,
quite often, one civilian group deliberately pushes for subjective civilian control of the military
in order to increase its power relative to other civilian groups (Huntington, 1959, p. 80-85).
Hence, regardless of the intentions behind it, subjective civilian control is fundamentally about
the distribution of power between civilian groups, rather than between civilians, as a whole,
and the military. Subjective civilian control is attained by making the military a mirror of the
civilian society, and hence, presupposes military participation in politics (Huntington, 1959, p.
80-85). Thus, the military, under subjective civilian control, is often involved in institutional,
class, constitutional or other related politics. This political involvement of the military may
manifest itself as military institutions forming one battleground for competing civilian interests
or ideologies, the struggle between which takes place across all areas of contemporary civilian
society (Huntington, 1959, p. 80-85). And since subjective civilian control usually involves an
increase in power of one civilian faction relative to the military and other civilian factions;
subjective civilian control usually manifests itself as an infusion of the state’s military with the
ideology and values of that one civilian faction (Huntington, 1959).
The present paper will attempt to show that the treatment of issues of gender and
sexual orientation of its personnel, by the Canadian Forces (CF), between the 1960s and the
1990s, suggest that the CF have been under considerable amount of subjective civilian control
during that period.
Gender
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, the CF was clearly involved in ‘gender politics,’ since
its institutions formed one battleground for competing civilian, gender-related, interests and
ideologies, the struggle between which took place across all areas of contemporary Canadian
civilian society.

2
The revival of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s in Canada was part of an international
movement now called feminism’s ‘second wave.’ It was, in part, a response to post-WWII
culture which encouraged women to accept the role of a traditional wife and mother (Gorham,
2004). This response mostly came from women with connections to the first feminist
movement who knew that inequalities, between men and women, in the paid workforce,
education, and professional training programs, still existed (Gorham, 2004).
On the other hand, Canadian anti-feminists rejected feminist claims for gender equality.
After all, proponents of this ideology “view Canada, and Western civilization, as a battleground
where they struggle against feminist demands for political and economic rights and sexual and
reproductive autonomy” (Strong-Boag, 2004). Both the feminist and anti-feminist movements
engaged in influential debates during the two ‘waves’ of feminism (Strong-Boag, 2004). While
leading anti-feminists have commonly been men, anti-feminism also inspired its share of
women. Feminist-bashing became a common practice of reactionary periodicals such as BC
Report and Alberta Report in the 1960s; but middle-of-the-road publications also began to
publish intense critiques of feminism from conservatives like Barbara Amiel (Strong-Boag,
2004).
And yet, in 1966, Laura Sabia, who was a president of the Canadian Federation of
University Women, formed the Committee on Equality for Women, out of representatives of 30
national women’s organizations. This group immediately began calling for the establishment of
the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. However, then Prime Minister, Lester B.
Pearson, didn’t seem to be interested in satisfying the group’s demands. In response, Sabia
threatened a 2 million-strong march of women to Ottawa (Douglas, 1997, p. 238). And
apparently the threat was sufficient to make Pearson capitulate; since in February 1967, the
Royal Commission on the Status of Women was formally established. The Commission’s
mandate was “to inquire and report upon the status of women in Canada, and to recommend
what steps might be taken by the Federal Government to ensure for women equal
opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society …” (Douglas, 1997, p. 238-239). The
Commission started off its work by collecting opinions from a broad spectrum of Canadian
women. It held informal hearings all across Canada, as well as welcomed more formal briefs
and personal letters (Gorham, 2004).
In 1970, the Royal Commission on the Status of Women issued 167 recommendations
aimed at providing a “climate of equal opportunity” for Canadian women. Despite being a non-
civilian organization, six of the 167 recommendations pertained to CF (Winslow & Dunn, 2002).
These six recommendations consisted of the following: CF should open all of its trades to
women; eliminate the prohibition on the enlistment of married women; make the lengths of
initial engagements, for men and women, equal; prohibit the release from the CF on the
grounds of pregnancy; amend the CF Superannuation Act to make its provisions, for men and

3
women, identical; and start admitting women to the DND-operated military college (Winslow &
Dunn, 2002).
Following the Commission’s 167 recommendations, an Advisory Council on the Status of
Women was set up by the federal government; while feminist activists founded the National
Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) in 1972. NAC represented the tradition of
liberal feminism, especially in its early years, which was aimed at redressing women’s
inequalities through changes in law (Gorham, 2004). However, there was also a more radical
side to feminism’s second wave, which mostly involved a younger generation of women
connected with the student-led New Left. And from the late 1960s, women’s groups of the New
Left started to define themselves as part of the Women’s Liberation Movement, which sought
revolutionary change in women’s position in society. In line with the New Left’s commitment to
democratic participation, women’s liberationists formed consciousness-raising groups and
promoted their views with flamboyant public demonstrations (Gorham, 2004).
In 1978, further external pressure, relating to the CF’s enlistment practices and
personnel diversity, was brought to bear on the CF by Canada’s civilian leaders. This was done
through the passing of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA), which prohibited discrimination
on the grounds of “race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy
and childbirth), marital status, family status, a pardoned conviction and physical or mental
disability (including disfigurement and dependence on drugs or alcohol)” (Winslow & Dunn,
2002). Thus, since the CHRA stipulated that there should be no discrimination against women, it
forced the CF’s personnel policies to be completely reassessed (Winslow & Dunn, 2002).
Despite some opposition to feminist demands for Canadian women’s rights to equal
employment, reproductive choice, and freedom from violence, culminating in the creation of
REAL Women (Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life) in the early 1980s (Strong-Boag, 2004); on 17
April 1985, the equality section (Section 15) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into
effect. This section made it illegal to deny someone employment on the basis of sex (among
other qualities) (Winslow & Dunn, 2002). Hence, in the same year, the Parliamentary
Committee on Equality Rights recommended opening all trades and occupations, within the CF,
to women. The Canadian Government responded to this recommendation with a full, official
commitment to it (Winslow & Dunn, 2002). In response, the CF set up a Charter Task Force to
develop options for meeting the Government’s policy objectives with regards to equal and
equitable employment in the CF. And in June 1986, the Chief of the Defence Staff issued
Administrative Orders 49-14 and 49-15, which effectively opened up all of CF’s units and
occupations to women (Winslow & Dunn, 2002). However, the CF chose to keep some units and
occupations as single-gender male, while requiring a number of others to have a minimum male
component, arguing that a mixed gender approach may undermine their operational
effectiveness (Winslow & Dunn, 2002).

4
Even though various opponents of feminism’s second wave, such as Betty Steele, author
of The Feminist Takeover: Patriarchy to Matriarchy in Two Decades (1987), were actively
working on suppressing the feminist agenda, in the late 1980s (Strong-Boag, 2004); 1989 saw a
major complaint of discrimination on the basis of sex, being made against the CF (Winslow &
Dunn, 2002). And in response, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the CF’s policy of
keeping some units and occupations as single-gender male was an unjustified discriminatory
practice. Consequently, the Tribunal ordered that all of CF’s units and occupations be opened to
women (with the only exception being submarines, because of privacy issues) (Winslow &
Dunn, 2002). It also directed that the policy of a minimum male component, for some of CF’s
units and occupations, be eliminated; that the CF develop gender neutral selection standards;
that women be integrated into the CF as quickly as possible, so as to achieve the goal of
complete integration of women into both the regular and the reserve forces within ten years;
and that this process be subjected to internal and external monitoring (Winslow & Dunn, 2002).
Despite these, and many other feminist victories, anti-feminists remained undeterred. In
fact, in 1992, William Gairdner, a writer known for severely criticizing feminists while
celebrating Anglo-Celtic masculinity, published The War against the Family (Strong-Boag, 2004).
Moreover, in the last quarter of the 20th
century, the New Right also actively engaged in anti-
feminist politics; while a few isolated incidents of deadly violence against women, such as the
massacre at Montreal’s École Polytechnique on December 6, 1989, have apparently been
inspired by anti-feminist sentiments (Strong-Boag, 2004).
Despite all these anti-feminist efforts, in its 1996 annual report, the Canadian Human
Rights Commission expressed clear dissatisfaction with the speed at which women were being
integrated into the CF; and pointed out that the representation of women in combat
occupations appeared to be stuck at a very low level, even though the end of the ten-year
deadline set by the Tribunal was quickly approaching (Winslow & Dunn, 2002). Consequently, it
put pressure on the CF to make the integration of women an issue of much higher priority,
devote to it more resources, and more actively involve CF’s senior management into it
(Winslow & Dunn, 2002).
Soon afterwards, the CF established the Defence Diversity Council and an Advisory
Committee on Gender Integration and Diversity. At the same time, a diversity-training program
was established to sensitize all members in the chain of command to the issue (Winslow &
Dunn, 2002). The CF has also made the recruitment of women a priority, and set about
redesigning all equipment, from rucksacks to rifles, to make it more suitable for the female
physique (Winslow & Dunn, 2002).
Sexual Orientation
Between the 1960s and the 1990s, the CF was clearly involved in gay and lesbian
politics, since its institutions formed one battleground for competing civilian, sexual

5
orientation-related, interests and ideologies, the struggle between which took place across all
areas of contemporary Canadian civilian society.
1960s
In 1964, the Association for Social Knowledge (ASK), a homophile group, was founded in
Vancouver. Its mission was to increase public understanding of homosexuality through
education, and to advocate for legalization of homosexual acts. However, the 1960s were still a
dangerous time for homosexuals, as Canada was still dominated by socially conservative forces,
making political organization difficult for homosexuals (Smith, 2008, p. 183). As before, the
personal lives of homosexuals were still led in the shadows of Canadian society. Homosexual
relationships were still thought to indicate moral deviance or mental illness, and, at best, were
considered to be shameful. The police still routinely raided public places, such as bars, where
homosexuals were known to gather, charging some with “gross indecency” or “buggery”
(Smith, 2008, p. 181). The RCMP’s “fruit machine” was still at work, weeding out homosexuals
from government service, especially the military and diplomatic services, since their presence
there was thought to be a danger to moral and state security. Hence, many homosexuals
socialized with each other only in private networks. For fear of discover, they met only in each
other’s homes, and tried to make sure that their families, co-workers, and communities knew
nothing about their same-sex relationships and sex lives (Smith, 2008, p. 181).
However, one criminal case, in the second half of the 1960s, garnered some public
support for the plight of Canadian homosexuals. The case involved one gay man who admitted
engaging in consensual sex with other men. As a result, he was convicted of “gross indecency”
and labeled a dangerous sex offender, allowing the authorities to keep him imprisoned
indefinitely (Smith, 2008, p. 183). And despite his appeal of his sex offender status to the
Supreme Court of Canada, the decision of the lower court was upheld by the country’s top
judiciaries in 1967. However, the subsequent public outcry over this case, as well as pro-
homosexual advocacy of ASK and the Canadian Bar Association, compelled the federal
government to pass a bill legalizing homosexual acts between consenting adults, in 1969
(Smith, 2008, p. 183).
For its part, the CF has always considered homosexuals to be a threat to good order and
discipline, and continued to classify them as deviants even after 1969 (Winslow, Browne, &
Febbraro, 2007, p. 42). However, in the late 1960s, CF’s policies were already starting to be
challenged. In fact, in 1968, ASK made a submission to the Canadian Government, in which it
heavily criticized the idea that the presence of homosexuals in the CF, and related government
services, allegedly presented a security threat (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 218).
1970s

6
Unlike the homophile groups of the 1960s, which focused on the careful strategies of
education, the gay liberation and lesbian feminist groups, which emerged in the early 1970s,
focused on directly challenging the idea that homosexuality should be stigmatized, or that it
was inferior to heterosexuality (Smith, 2008, p. 184). Over the course of the 1970s, the gay
liberation movement quickly spread through major Canadian cities. Most of the gay liberation
groups, of that time, worked on a common human rights agenda, a good example of which was
presented to Parliament, in the form of a document, at the first gay liberation demonstration
on Parliament Hill, in August 1971 (Smith, 2008, p. 185). This document listed a large number of
demands, all of which were largely aimed at granting known homosexuals, all the rights
enjoyed by heterosexuals. One of these demands was permitting homosexuals to serve in the
Canadian Forces without discrimination (Smith, 2008, p. 185-186).
However, such demands had no effect. For example, in 1974, Martin Hogarth of Ottawa
was expelled from the CF after admitting, under interrogation by the military police, that he
was a homosexual. However, the National Gay Rights Coalition (NGRC), a cross-country
coalition of gay and lesbian groups, publicized this case in briefs, about the Federal Human
Rights Act, which it presented to Members of Parliament (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 230).
Also, a little later, the first challenge in civilian court, to CF’s discrimination of homosexuals,
took place. It was done by one of CF’s former members named Jacques Gallant, who was
discharged from the CF in 1976 on the grounds of being a homosexual (Kinsman & Gentile,
2010, p. 230). Gallant appealed his discharge from the CF, to the Federal Court of Canada,
arguing that his private sex life did not, in any way, impair his ability to perform his military
duties or scandalized the CF in any way. However, the Department of Defence won the case
against itself by arguing that the civilian court can’t be a judge in this matter because military
law and regulations are not subject to civilian law (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 230).
Throughout the 1970s, the gay liberation groups used different strategies, such as
demonstrating, lobbying, and litigating, to pursue their common agenda. However, aside from
Quebec, where the province’s human rights legislation started to include sexual orientation
clause in 1977, these attempts to change public policy were not successful (Smith, 2008, p.
186). And yet, the 1970s saw a substantial growth in gay and lesbian subcultures in major
Canadian cities. The private lives of homosexuals started to be increasingly lived out in the open
(Smith, 2008, p. 187). Their subcultures spawned new social institutions, such as Pride Day; new
community institutions, such as the 519 Community Centre in Toronto; and queer media, such
as RG, Fugues, and The Body Politic (Smith, 2008, p. 187).
This growth and proactive political strategies of the gay liberation and lesbian
movements of the 1970s, quite likely provoked what is arguably a right-winged backlash from
the state (Smith, 1999, p. 67). In particular, the late 1970s saw criminal charges being laid
against The Body Politic, as well as a series of police raids on gay bath houses in Toronto, all of
which continued into the early 1980s. Thus, in 1977, The Body Politic published an article on

7
intergenerational homosexual relationships, which attracted a lot of negative public attention.
Consequently, in December 1977, the provincial and Toronto police raided the offices of The
Body Politic and charged the magazine with publishing ‘immoral, indecent, and scurrilous
material,’ for publishing that famous article (Smith, 1999, p. 67-68). In 1979, the accused were
acquitted; but they were retried again in 1982, and acquitted again. However, in 1982, Pink
Triangle Press (the publisher of The Body Politic) and its officers were charged with publishing
‘obscene material’, for the publication of another article; but were also found not guilty. At the
same time, the state apparently decided to step up its regulation of homosexuality (Smith,
1999, p. 68). Hence, in 1978, in the wake of the first charges against The Body Politic, the police
executed its first raid on the gay bathhouses of Toronto. Despite a strong reaction to this raid
by the queer community, which involved serious litigation and political action, the raids
continued (Smith, 1999, p. 68). A subsequent, prominent raid occurred in February of 1981,
when a raid on four bathhouses in Toronto led to the arrest of 286 men. Ironically, this raid
took place while the amendments to the proposed Charter of Rights and Freedoms were being
debated by the parliamentary committee in Ottawa (Smith, 1999, p. 68). Perhaps not
coincidentally, all of the just described state-sanctioned responses to the Canadian gay and
lesbian liberation movement, started in 1977, soon after the murder of a Toronto boy named
Emmanuel Jacques, which was depicted by the mainstream media as being a result of
homosexual depravity; leading to strong, widespread homophobia among Torontonians. Also,
unfortunately for the Canadian queer community, at the time of the murder of Emmanuel
Jacques, Canada was visited by Anita Bryant, an American evangelist and a homophobic
crusader (Smith, 1999, p. 67-68).
However, the active development of gay and lesbian activist movements, more visible
queer community formations, and the extensions of queer networks within the CF, in the
1970s, caused a few lesbians, expelled by the CF, to come forward and publicly challenge their
expulsions, sometimes even before being officially expelled (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 232).
One notable example is that of Barbara Thornborrow. Thus, on May 9, 1977, Private
Thornborrow, who was stationed in Ottawa and had served for sixteen months and recently
applied for a voluntary release from the CF, was interrogated by the military police about her
alleged homosexual activities and had her room searched, compelling her to confess to being a
homosexual. As a result of this confession, she was told to expect her discharge from CF in less
than a month (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 236). However, in the next few days, Thornborrow
contacted Lesbians Of Ottawa Now (LOON), who in turn contacted Gays of Ottawa (GO). The
two organizations invited her to a joint meeting to discuss her issue and possibly prepare a
press release. The meeting took place on May 16, and by the next evening, the NGRC had
issued a press release of Thornborrow’s case and arranged for her to accompany NGRC’s
members to Parliament Hill, where the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs was
discussing the Canadian Human Rights Act at that time (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 237). Many

8
media agencies came out to interview Thornborrow. And by the next day, her picture was on
the front page of major Canadian newspapers, and her story was being told by major Canadian
media agencies; becoming one of the most publicized cases of the discrimination of
homosexuals in the 1970s (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 237). Still, the CF discharged
Thornborrow on June 20, 1977, but publicly claimed that this was a result of her request for
voluntary release from the CF; which allegedly was granted to Thornborrow before the issue of
her homosexuality came up; even though she never received a response to her application for
voluntary release from the CF (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 238).
Thus, the end of the 1970s saw CF’s policies, aimed at excluding homosexuals from
military service, come under increasing attack; and this continued into the 1980s (Kinsman &
Gentile, 2010, p. 241). At the same time, the practice of CF’s military police to engage in
surveillance of gay and lesbian public places, in order to spot homosexuals serving in the CF,
came under scrutiny of homosexual rights groups (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 241).
1980s
During the 1980s, the Canadian gay community was hit hard by the AIDS epidemic.
Aside from leading to the deaths of many prominent gay activists, the AIDS epidemic became
associated with male homosexuality, and thus reinforced the rise of the New Right. Also, the
very strong stigma of HIV/AIDS, which existed during the 1980s, undermined the liberatory
potential of sexual expression that had been central to the gay liberation movement (Smith,
2007, p. 187). The 1980s also demonstrated, to the detriment of gay and lesbian liberation
movement, that traditional social conservative values were still an important social force in the
Canadian society. Thus, the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney was
elected in 1984, while the right-wing populist Reform Party was established in 1987. These
forces of moral regulation brought a new vulnerability to the gay and lesbian communities,
which led to new forms of political action (Smith, 2008, p. 187).
The shift toward political action aimed at ending the AIDS epidemic, during the 1980s,
led to the targeting, by gay and lesbian activists, of corporations, scientists, pharmaceutical
companies, and the media, in addition to governments (Smith, 2008, p.189); as well as the
radicalization and decentring of gay and lesbian activism, and the rise of groups such as Queer
Nation and Lesbian Avengers. These groups focused on countering bashing and homophobic
attacks on gays and lesbians in urban areas, as well as other issues, using direct action tactics
(Smith, 2008, p. 188). The ideology and tactics of Queer Nation, for example, radically differed
from mainstream political organizations. Instead of simply demanding that homosexuals be
granted the same rights and be treated no worse than heterosexuals, Queer Nation questioned
the binary opposition of homosexuality and heterosexuality, while simultaneously asserting a
distinctive queer political identity (Smith, 2008, p. 188).

9
Not surprisingly, the CF wasn’t spared, from being targeted by gay and lesbian activism
of the 1980s, either. So, in 1982, in response to a series of challenges and questions from
homosexual activists, including Gays of Ottawa (GO), the CF decided to issue a clarification of
their policies towards homosexuals (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 348). Like in the past, one of
the reasons for opposition to enrolment and retention of homosexuals in the CF, stated in this
clarification, is their allegedly greater susceptibility to blackmail. However, unlike in the past,
the clarification states that this is largely a problem with “closeted” homosexuals, rather than
open ones. This indicates some effect of the gay and lesbian liberation movements, as well as
the emergence of open homosexuals, on the policies of the CF (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p.
349). Similarly, on June 5, 1982, John Duggan, acting on GO’s behalf, wrote a letter to then
Minister of National Defence, in which he skillfully criticized the apparent lack of logic in CF’s
arguments against the enrolment and retention of homosexuals on the grounds that they
present a security risk. In his response to Duggan, the Executive Assistant of the Minister of
Defence, did not bother defending CF’s security policies with regards to its personnel, and
instead stated that the presence of homosexuals presents an operational impediment to the
efficient functioning of the CF (Kinsman & Gentile, 2010, p. 350-351). This response shows a
new conceptualization of CF’s anti-queer policies; which was clearly developed in response to
increasing gay and lesbian activism and the emergence of strong queer communities, as well as
the legal implications of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Hence, the CF was increasingly
finding that the most effective way of responding to criticism of its anti-queer policies in the
early 1980s, was by expressing concerns about the operational efficiency of the Canadian
armed forces, if homosexuals were to be allowed to serve without any discrimination (Kinsman
& Gentile, 2010, p. 351).
Another important development of the 1980s, which would play an important part in
Canadian gay and lesbian politics of the following years, was, of course, the proposal and
enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, unlike many other minorities who
managed to mobilize in time and succeed in having their human rights agendas included in the
Charter; the gay and lesbian movement was insufficiently organized and poorly resourced, at
that time, and too preoccupied with the AIDS crisis, to mount a substantial mobilization in that
direction (Smith, 2008, p. 189). However, MP Svend Robinson raised the issue of having sexual
orientation included in the proposed Charter. And despite the failure of Robinson’s proposal, it
was understood that the equality rights section of the Charter (Section 15) provided a political
opening which can be exploited by the gay and lesbian rights movement. Not surprisingly,
lawyers were the first to recognize this (Smith, 2008, p. 189-190). Consequently, soon enough,
law schools and bar associations began to see gay and lesbian lawyers and law students getting
together for work on gay and lesbian legal issues. Moreover, the political opportunity provided
by the Charter led to pan-Canadian organization of the gay and lesbian movement. Also, the
equality rights hearings (on Section 15 of the Charter), held by the parliamentary sub-

10
committee in 1985, drew a large number of submissions from gay and lesbian groups, and led
to the creation of a gay and lesbian rights group, called Egale, in 1986, which was tasked with
working on human rights issues at the federal level (Smith, 2008, p. 190).
And when it came to the CF, a 1985 review of the Charter’s equal rights provision found
CF’s policies, with regards to homosexuals, to be in potential violation of this provision
(Winslow, Browne, & Febbraro, 2007, p. 42). This led to six years of debate and study of this
issue, culminating in the ruling of the Canadian Federal Court, which concluded that by
preventing the military service of homosexuals, the CF was violating the Charter. In compliance
with the court’s decision, the CF lifted the ban on homosexuals in 1992 (Winslow, Browne, &
Febbraro, 2007, p. 42).
Conclusion, and Directions for Further Research
Thus, we have seen that between the 1960s and the 1990s, the CF was clearly involved
in ‘gender politics,’ as well as gay and lesbian politics, since its institutions formed one
battleground for competing civilian, gender- and sexual orientation- related, interests and
ideologies, the struggle between which took place across all areas of contemporary Canadian
civilian society. This suggests that between the 1960s and the 1990s, the CF was under
considerable amount of subjective civilian control.
However, it is tempting to speculate, and hence, would be valuable to explore
specifically, whether the progressive alteration of the CF’s personnel policies between the
1960s and the 1990s, until they started to mirror those demanded by the feminist and queer
activist groups, indicates a progressive increase, between the 1960s and the 1990s, in the
amount of subjective civilian control imposed on the CF. After all, the juxtaposition of two legal
cases, described above, suggests that this may be so. In particular, Jacques Gallant lost his case
against the Department of Defence (in which he argued that his discharge from the CF, on the
grounds of his homosexuality, was a wrongful discharge) in the Federal Court of Canada in the
late 1970s; because the Federal Court agreed with the defendant, in that military law and
regulations are not subject to civilian law. However, apparently the same Federal Court
concluded, around the turn of the 1990s, that by discriminating against the military service of
homosexuals, the CF was violating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (a civilian bill of rights)
and ordered the CF to end all its policies that are discriminating against homosexuals.
It would also be just as valuable to explore, whether the power of feminist and queer
groups, relative to that of the other Canadian civilian groups, has increased between the 1960s
and the 1990s; whether the, above mentioned, progressive alteration in the CF’s policies is a
result of feminist and queer groups, over time, successfully infusing the CF with its ideology and
values; and whether there is any evidence to indicate that the Canadian feminist and queer

11
groups have ever engaged in pushing for greater subjective civilian control of the CF during
those years.
References
Douglas, A. (1997). The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Canadian History. Scarborough, Ont.: Alpha
Books.
Gorham, D. (2004). “feminism, second-wave.” In G. Hallowell (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to
Canadian History (p.219). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Huntington, S. P. (1959). The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military
Relations. Cambridge: The Belknap Press.
Kinsman, G., and Gentile, P. (2010). The Canadian War on Queers: National Security and Sexual
Regulation. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Smith, M. (1999). Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada: Social Movements and Equality-Seeking,
1971-1995. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Smith, M. (2008). “Identity and Opportunity: The Lesbian and Gay Rights Movement.” In M.
Smith (Ed.), Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada (pp. 181 – 202).
Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Strong-Boag, V. (2004). “anti-feminism.” In G. Hallowell (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to
Canadian History (p. 41). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.
Winslow, D., Browne, P., and Febbraro, A. (2007). “Diversity in the Canadian Forces.” In J.
Soeters and J. v. d. Meulen (Eds.), Cultural Diversity in the Armed Forces: An
International Comparison (pp. 31-47). New York: Routledge.
Winslow, D. and Dunn, J. (2002). “Women in the Canadian Forces: Between Legal and Social
Integration.” Current Sociology, Vol. 50(5): 641–667.

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