The decision followed recommendations by Louise Arbour, a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) tasked with helping clean up the culture within the military, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said still doesn't "get it," in terms of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

In a letter to Defense Minister Anita Anand, Arbour said that "several allegations of historical sexual misconduct" have been made this year against high-ranking officers, including the former chief of the defense staff.

She said she'd heard from soldiers during her review, launched in April, that there was "significant skepticism" regarding "the independence and competence" of military police, saying that has led to "serious mistrust in the military justice system" and in investigations.

"These recurrent allegations of historical sexual misconduct against senior CAF (Canadian Armed Forces) leaders and the related Canadian Forces National Investigation Service investigations have led me to conclude that immediate remedial actions are necessary to start restoring trust in the CAF," she said.

Arbour's review comes five years after another taskforce found the military had "an environment that is hostile to women... and is conducive to more serious incidents of sexual harassment and assault."

In April, the military reported to the House of Commons 581 sexual assaults and 221 incidents of sexual harassment had taken place since 2015.

Trudeau last month said the situation had reached a "crisis" level.