I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 67 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Monday, October 3, 2022, the committee is resuming its study on the experience of women veterans.
Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, and members, like witnesses, are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I would ask you to wait until I recognize you by name.
You have the interpretation online. You can choose English, French or the floor to hear what is being said here.
As you know, this room is equipped with a fairly efficient audio system, but we must be careful during the meeting not to cause hearing damage to our interpreters. While you are speaking, please avoid having the earphones too close to the mike to avoid interrupting the interpretation and to protect the hearing of our interpreters.
As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair.
All the connection tests have been done.
I also have to give a warning about psychological trauma, given the study we are conducting.
Before welcoming our witnesses, I would like to give you a warning. We'll be discussing experiences related to mental health, which may be triggering to the people here with us, viewers, members and their staff with similar experiences. If you feel distressed or need help, please advise the clerk know.
For today, we have with us people from the sexual misconduct support and resource centre from DND. If you need anything, go to the clerk and those people who are with us.
Thank you for being here.
Before we welcome our witnesses—we have one here and two online—I have one more piece of business.
I would like to take just one minute to make a proposition to the committee as the chair. There will be no discussion really, or you can come to me.
During the special study that we are doing on veteran women, as you can see we have a trigger warning. This is the first time we are doing this kind of study. The study is important for women veterans and for us. However, I've heard from colleagues and witnesses since the last meeting that some of the women veterans are unwilling to come and testify because they said they feel like they were used or dismissed.
It is my duty to inform members of the committee that I have instructed the clerk to organize as soon as possible a session of two hours of training on trauma. It's free training that will help us know how to behave with people dealing with trauma, whether it's PTSD or not.
It's important for veterans who come to testify to feel comfortable reporting on the extremely difficult situations they have experienced. They are very courageous to come and testify here, in front of us and in front of the cameras. From the start of this study, we have taken steps to support them specifically when they participate in this committee.
I'd like to know if I have unanimous consent of the members of the committee to do that training as soon as possible.