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Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan fields questions at the a news conference in Halifax on Nov. 19, 2017.Andrew Vaughan

The federal government is launching settlement talks for three proposed class-action lawsuits filed by former Canadian Forces members who say they experienced harassment and discrimination while in uniform.

Word of the decision comes two weeks after Justin Trudeau blasted the Justice Department for its response to one of the proposed suits, although the government refused to say whether the prime minister's comments played a role.

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan announced the planned negotiations on Friday, saying the plaintiffs in the proposed lawsuits had agreed to suspend their litigation and that the government would in turn drop its efforts to quash the cases and seek to resolve the cases outside court.

Two of the proposed lawsuits were brought forward by former members who say they were sexually assaulted or harassed while in uniform, while the third relates to allegations of endemic racism and discrimination against visible minorities and Indigenous service personnel.

"We look forward to commencing these discussions to bring closure, healing and acknowledgment to the victims and survivors of sexual assault, racism, harassment and discrimination," Sajjan said in a statement.

"We fully acknowledge the impact that racism and harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour may have on victims and survivors. This behaviour, as well as discrimination based on gender or race, must be stopped in our society."

Government officials would not provide further details, including when the talks would begin or what prompted the decision to launch talks.

But Garth Myers, a lawyer with Toronto-based Koskie Minsky, one of five law firms involved in the sexual-misconduct lawsuits, said all indications were that the government planned to fight the lawsuit until about two weeks ago.

That's when Trudeau said Justice Department lawyers were out of line for arguing the government did not owe a "duty of care" to military personnel "to provide a safe and harassment-free work environment, or to create policies to prevent sexual harassment or sexual assault."

He ordered Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould "to follow up with the lawyers to make sure that we argue things that are consistent with this government's philosophy."

Myers could not say whether the sudden change was a direct result of Trudeau's intervention, though he confirmed the agreement between the government and various law firms to start settlement talks came after those comments.

While the three lawsuits have been suspended, they haven't been abandoned altogether.

Lawyers for the two lawsuits involving sexual misconduct were scheduled to argue in Federal Court in July why the case should be certified as a class action, while the other suit was scheduled to go through the same process in April.

All three have now been put off until next year to allow time for the negotiations to proceed.

"Our clients are happy that Canada is willing to come to the table and engage in exploratory settlement discussions. That in and of itself represents a change of course and a very positive development for them," Myers said.

"However, they are of course hesitant to get rid of dates entirely and want to press forward with the case if negotiations break down."

The proposed class-action lawsuits involving allegations of widespread sexual misconduct are the result of several different claims brought forward throughout 2016 and 2017 before being combined into two separate suits, one for men and the other for women.

The third was launched in Halifax in December 2016. The three named plaintiffs — Marc Frenette, Wallace Fowler and Jean-Pierre Robillard — allege that they experienced systemic racial discrimination and harassment in the form of slurs, threats and lost career opportunities.

Military commanders have been grappling for the past few years with how to eliminate sexual misconduct from the ranks and make the Forces more diverse and representative of Canadian society.

Chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance emphasized Friday the importance of recruiting from segments of the population that have been traditionally underrepresented in the military, including women, visible minorities and members of the LGBTQ community.

"Diversity today, speaking of diversity and putting in place practices that would attract people is seen by many as a good thing," Vance said during an appearance at a major defence conference. "I do too. But I also see it as a matter of survival of the Armed Forces into the future."

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