Status of Women committee  I can talk about the technicality of how we preserve.... We have our own policing database that's accessible to most police officers in the Canadian Armed Forces. However, internally, as a major crimes unit, we protect that information from anybody accessing it through access control measures.

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  How many times an error has occurred in an investigation?

Status of Women committee  We have records, I guess, of complaints. If there are complaints about a specific investigation, or generally investigations, there are processes in place. Internally, there's a professional standards organization that is charged with reviewing investigations that are ongoing.

Status of Women committee  We have no specific report like that. We have a quality assurance process whereby senior members of the unit are charged with reviewing ongoing and concluded investigations for any error or any opportunities to really develop and get better. However, no, there's nothing specific in one place that would identify all of those things.

Status of Women committee  In terms of an outcome at a judicial process, it's really beyond just the CFNIS. It's also any other police service that played a role in the collecting of evidence, and also the court's handling of its own evidence as well.

Status of Women committee  Again, because this is speaking about a specific investigation, there are laws in place that prevent—

Status of Women committee  Absolutely.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. On the overall process for coming in, I think I spoke to that. There are a few different avenues where folks can refer a complaint to us. That could come from an individual who's affected—a victim, a witness. It could come from a unit or any member of the chain of command, or anyone who calls us, quite frankly.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. In terms of receiving an investigation, there are a few different avenues that a report can be made to the CFNIS. I could receive a direct tasking from the Canadian Forces provost marshal or direct contact from a victim or a witness to an event. Also, through units' chains of command, we could receive a call from a unit.

Status of Women committee  Anybody within the chain of command who has a report to make can make a report to us.

Status of Women committee  Thank you for the question. For us, everything is compartmentalized within an investigation. What I mean by that is that the actual process of investigating stays within the unit, my unit, the CFNIS. Once we hit the point where we're ready to proceed with charges or not, if those charges happen to be through the military justice system, there may be some units involved of the subjects of the investigation.

Status of Women committee  It would be inappropriate for me to contest somebody who is not here, but I can speak about my experience. My experience has been that, when unit chains of command have heard of a victim coming forward, they are asking us for information about the file in front of them, generally with the best intent of supporting the victim.

Status of Women committee  A chain of command can ask us questions but we don't provide them with information, so no.

Status of Women committee  I read the same media report that you're referring to. While I don't want to speak to individual cases and where the issues are—