INJ20K Press Releases

SUBJECT:  INJ20K – IT’S NOT JUST 20K  SLANDER & DEFAMATION ARTICLE     

D. Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen 5 May 2022

Military Sexual Assault Victims Threatened with Legal Action 

Recent articles in the Ottawa Citizen have generated concern by some that have no idea who or what INJ20K represents, that we are bullying military sexual assault survivors, so a public article begs a public response. 

The short responses to this article by David Pugliese would be that he has probably not read our “Roots and Evolution” page on our website; this is a legal matter between individuals, not groups of survivors; and Admins/Moderators removing people from a Facebook Group, in accordance with published Group rules of conduct, is not bullying. INJ20K is also not involved in training anyone. In conjunction with a cross section of MST survivors that have chosen to be a part of what we have named INJ20K, as Persons With Lived Experience (PWLEs), we provide feedback through critical conversation & other means, regarding survivor-centric considerations in policy development to any entity seeking that kind of feedback from PWLEs. 

We will always promote taking trauma-informed approaches to dealing with persons impacted by MST, hence our regular requests to media asking for that consideration when considering their articles & their headlines. 

A longer more detailed response follows for those interested in the rest of the story. 

When the e-mail and subsequent article was first released, Lori & I were immediately concerned that we had alienated a number of military sexual trauma community of survivors, but further evidence and revelations have proven that there were only four key survivors involved, and two have come forward to apologize and engage in an informal restorative process as well as to  provide insight into the development of the email and its release. 

The other two have chosen to remain silent, one identifying through their lawyer, they neither confirm nor deny being involved.  Lori felt that personal legal action at her own expense would help ensure that no survivor or stakeholder would ever have to experience the harm presented through these types of attacks and furthermore, that the truth and facts could be established for hers and my own well being, that of INJ20K , as well as the larger community.  

Since our website, www.inj20K.ca essentially addresses clearly not only why we founded INJ20K, but how it became our way forward, we see no need to reiterate those facts here.  We merely ask that before you make any quick assumptions, you check out our history and weigh that against the allegations made in the e-mail mentioned and the article released on 5 May 2022. It is unfortunate that Mr. Pugliese did not seem to do this and save himself the trouble of writing his article based on conjecture and the personal opinions of a small group of people. The fact that many of their allegations were clearly false and easily disproved was a vital clue. 

The most concerning allegation we feel requires addressing is the claim that we booted people from the INJ20K group. Sounds like a lesson in Facebook groups is needed just in case anyone has been led to believe that we run a support group that meets in person. Anyone that has ever been an Admin or Moderator in a Facebook Group can tell you horror stories of people that feel they can say whatever want from behind the safety of their keyboard. The only method to counter this type of bullying is to create rules, violation consequences, and if required, notice of removal from a Facebook group.  

When many of us were members in the Facebook group IJ700, there was only a few rules and scant guidelines for moderating. The purpose of the group was to be a place for survivors to obtain moral support from others that had experienced military sexual trauma. For the first three years or so of IJ700 there were very few issues with bullying, but as the Facebook group doubled in size with the deadline of the Class Action Settlement deadline looming, many joined for information on the settlement process. This led to a marked increase of member bullying complaints. 

So when the original creator of IJ700 was going to shut down IJ700, there was a group of us that wanted to preserve a Facebook group for survivor support. We also felt that more rules had to be created in order to return the group to the safer space it used to be in 2015-2018. It was these new rules and more stringent Moderation in the new Facebook group of INJ700 that resulted in some people being removed as per the established and published group rules. 

Removal, no matter how respectful, never goes well; individuals will get upset even when they have clearly broken group rules. Of these four people involved in the e-mail, two were removed for bullying others, and one was removed by an Admin over a heated personal e-mail/messenger exchange.

The real story here is that there are a group of people that believe we “took over” IJ700, renamed it and then shut it down arbitrarily. Again we refer people to INJ20K’s evolution on our website. INJ700 was a transitory Facebook group that we maintained while deciding whether there was a path forward. When we decided that we wanted to help contribute to survivor-centric solutions and positive culture change, INJ20K is the path forward we decided to take. 

The people that had chosen to remain in the INJ700 Facebook group were advised of our decided path, then told in January 2022 that because a new Group with a new focus was going to be created in March 2022, the INJ700 Facebook group would be shut down.   The focus and revised Facebook group rules for the INJ20K group were clearly indicated to all INJ700 group members along with an invitation to all. 

Everyone was told that we would be maintaining a Facebook “Community Hub” group in response to the many survivors that told us they still wanted a private group they could feel safe sharing in. We would also be creating a Leadership Team to provide transparency in actions, and an Advisory Group of survivors that are retired and/or serving that agreed to be consulted if there was an issue presented to INJ20K that required greater feedback than the INJ20K Leadership Team could contribute. So essentially how many Facebook members in the private Community Hub has little relevance on the feedback we give back to the CAF & DND. ANYONE that is a survivor of MST is welcome in the Hub as long as they follow the rules they agreed to when becoming a member of our Facebook Community Hub. 

We are happy to say it is a much more positive space than it used to be and we hope any MST survivor looking for survivors supporting survivors will join our Hub on Facebook, however the new website we created is also where any MST survivor can go for information on resources, and we hope to develop the website into a good resource spot for anyone wanting to find out how to better support a survivor of MST.  The sense of exclusion some have claimed stems from the fact that we have been very clear on our intent to maintain a positive and creative space on Facebook, not a place to rant and complain about government policy or faux pas. There are several Facebook groups available for this type of discourse, so we do not feel we need to maintain a space for that.  This said, we certainly understand that for some survivors they are in a rightfully angry space on their healing journey, so we are glad they have that choice. 

In our Facebook Community Hub we want to maintain a space of positive support and highlighting what things ARE being done to change the outcome for MST survivors and work towards a safer CAF/DND. This does not mean we will not provide criticism to the CAF/DND where criticism is due, but we will not re-traumatize survivors by highlighting cases or promoting past mistakes unless such action will effect changes. 

Hope. We want to be ambassadors of hope for a better CAF/DND, so we will share when there has been positive action towards a more hopeful future. Naively we are finding out that trying to remain a beacon of hope draws fire. However, giving survivors a place to support other survivors and doing whatever we can to ensure survivor-centric considerations are made is OUR dream, so how we do it is our prerogative. If we find others with the same dreams, awesome! 

If not, Lori & I only wish them a successful healing journey. 

In service to all that believe in mutual respect and dignity for all.  

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Media Contact:  

Sam Samplonius, CD 

Co-Chairperson INJ20K Volunteer  

E-Mail:   EXEC@inj20K.ca Website: https://inj20k.ca/

SUBJECT:  INJ20K – IT’S NOT JUST 20K      DAWE AND WHY INJ20K

D. Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen 11 May 2022

General Who Wrote Letter of Support for Sex Offender to Meet with Victims  

This response will be shorter than the last release since that one covered most of what we could say in response to this article.  It is important to identify the impact articles may have on military sexual trauma survivors AND persons impacted by MST, which can include family and friends, thus our continued advocacy for trauma informed journalism.

 The central survivor in all this does a brilliant job of elucidating the impact on her Twitter feed:

Annalise Schamuhn @annalisesharon 

I hardly know where to start with this click-bait ambulance chaser.  

1. MGen Dawe hurt me deeply, but he wrote his own letter, don't take that away from him. He's on his own path & he's got the right to struggle just like the rest of us. 

2. He has attempted to apologize in the past. Yes it fell short, because how can a person apologize until they understand and can articulate the harm they've caused?  That's what this restorative engagement is about: learning & understanding. It's an excellent process thru ICCM. 

3. It's so insulting and preposterous to suggest that any board member of  @INJ_20K  wrote the letter. After centering me & caring for my needs, INJ20K agreed to share the letter on FB so harmed mbrs/vets could have an opportunity to participate in a truly healing process. 

4. When the letter was shared in INJ20K FB group, this was my response.

{screenshot posted here} 

#canadianforces #cdnpoli #miltwitter #cdnmiltwitter #metoo #PTSD 

5. What "other groups representing misconduct survivors"? Are there support groups productively engaging with #canadianforces leadership and  @VeteransENG_CA  and  @DNDCAF_SMRC  and the Centre of Excellence for PTSD that I'm not aware of? I feel like I would know. 

6. Was that an insinuation that collaborating w CAF leaders is collusion with perpetrators??   Of course there is praise for progress being made. There's also strong criticism when CAF falls short of the mark. This is an adult relationship where ppl work together & are honest. There have been plenty of open and productive conversations with CAF, RCN and RCAF leaders about successes and failures on both sides.   Trauma happens in the context of relationships, and likewise trauma can be healed through relationship. Safe, open, mature relationships. 

7. Another ridiculous suggestion: "once the restorative process is completed, they expect Dawe will be promoted to LGen."  I can't even. Restorative processes are not a check in the box for the party who caused the harm. They are victim-centric. It's for healing ppl & the org. 

8. "That officer, Maj. Jonathan Hamilton, had sexually and physically assaulted the wife of a fellow soldier."  I'm not the wife of a fellow soldier. I'm a fellow soldier and I have a name. I'm not defined by my relationship to any man. 

9. "The major general received $68,000 in pay during that time he had the summer months off."  This was not some bougey vacation where he was living it up. What was the CAF to do, honestly? This mess was partly created by the system & the system has to sort it out.

Annalise has said more than we would have dared, as we believe she has the true right to be involved in this situation. 

The only other point in the article we will still address is why was INJ20K involved.  

We will altruistically do our best to support any organizational or individual action or program that can be a healing benefit to survivors of MST. If that means providing a perspective on how to engage with a victim or survivor to have a trauma-informed conversation, we can and will do that with maturity and experience. 

Our pledge to each other and anyone joining us in this dream, is to ALWAYS think from a survivor lens; not difficult when you ARE a survivor. That is the main requirement for being asked to offer insight to an individual who wants to engage with an affected person or the larger affected Community. The easiest way to get involved is to give people your contact info and be informed with facts when engaging;  making a number of  cold calls to meet policy makers and developers is also important. We ask professionally and respectfully, and we always operate with integrity. The “secret” to our success? 

We also have a well developed bravo sierra detector that demands evidence and asks hard questions before we get involved. We are always on alert for becoming a “checkbox” that “survivors” were consulted. 

We also did try to identify all the Canadian MST groups with Persons With Lived Experience (PWLEs) that could be consulted or collaborated with for activism. Lori even set up a regular collaboration call with those that identified themselves as Canadian MST Survivors advocate groups. Most were only individuals or other Facebook groups, and none represented all genders, so we are not sure who all the other GROUPS are that voluntarily support survivors of misconduct. We would certainly love a list. 

So on that note,  INJ20K would like to know what other Canadian MST Advocacy Groups are out there because we would love to collaborate and promote whatever someone is doing to provide support for each part of a MST healing journey. Our mantra of “collaboration not confrontation” was meant towards all organizations. Please feel free to reach out via our e-mail below. 

In service to any survivors of Canadian MST

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Media Contact:  

Sam Samplonius, CD 

Co-Chairperson INJ20K Volunteer  

E-Mail:   EXEC@inj20K.ca    Website: https://inj20k.ca/ 

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