National Defence committee  I would say for the most part they certainly do. I'm following some of the feedback and testimony that have come out of the previous meetings here, understanding that, again, the government rejected an accelerated process for sexual misconduct victims and survivors requesting information.

National Defence committee  As I stated before the ethics committee when the question of reprisals came up, reprisals can be varied. They can be numerous. They can come in many forms and can very often be hard to detect. Where there is discretion, command authority or an opportunity to decide things, the root of the abuses of power can exist.

National Defence committee  Digitization may help speed up parts of the requests, and if you're able to digitize and store records so that individuals no longer need to provide them themselves.... Again, the process is that you make a request and it goes to the corporate secretary in the ATIP team. They figure out where it needs to go.

National Defence committee  It's a broad question, to be honest, but I can say that at least in how things are trickling through the Department of National Defence, what are transparent are the problems.

National Defence committee  First of all, I'd like to thank you for even raising and proposing the study. I was glad to see that someone on the national defence committee had picked up the torch, because there's certainly been a lot to talk about in this study. With respect to the recommendations, I certainly don't wish to hold myself out as an expert or as having more value than I have, but I will say that my experience, as you heard in my remarks, has been very broad.

National Defence committee  The comparison isn't a flattering one for our current forces. However, I would say that in terms of transparency, fundamentally it comes down to accountability. I believe that while we can take some of the expertise that Mr. Walbourne has and implement recommendations—and we'll continue to evolve and do that over time—at a fundamental level I think the military has a lot of what it needs to solve its problems.

National Defence committee  That's where the accountability would come from.

National Defence committee  We have codes of ethics, and when you don't respect the dignity of all persons, you can be released. I struggled to find the name of a single senior member of the forces who has been held accountable for anything other than their own personal conduct. In other words, has anyone been relieved of command for the 2,000 sexual assaults that occurred in the last year or the year before that?

National Defence committee  When it comes to a lot of the cases and information, I appreciate the highlight of this struggle. One of them, I can tell you, related to the grievance file and was exactly that. One of the first steps when you file a grievance is they give you a consent form that gives the department permission to access everything about you.

National Defence committee  I think that would certainly be welcome. The problem, of course, is effectively how that would be rolled out. As an example, in a naval reserve division, you have a ship's office, which is our administrative cell. It handles all those things, like the personal files and the administration of a member.

National Defence committee  Part of the concern is that members can use retirement to escape justice. I believe there was a case in CFB Halifax where an officer was placed under harassment investigation, resigned from the military and started work as a civilian the next day, at which point the military threw up its hands and said, “Well, I guess the matter is closed.

National Defence committee  The first breach happened when I submitted a harassment complaint. I submitted an ATIP for the response because, unfortunately, Commodore Montgomery didn't think it would be appropriate to give me the final decision in one harassment investigation. In the one against the executive officer I mentioned, the privacy breach happened because the individual improperly retained access to and shared personal information that should have been transferred or destroyed when I transferred units.

National Defence committee  I got the information I requested. Sometimes it takes two or three approaches or kicks at the can.

National Defence committee  One of the documents released in the release package was an email that was circulated internally that had attached my personal information. That's how I knew there was a breach. What concerns me about that, sir, I'll also add, is that the individuals who sent it and the individuals who received my information had all of the requisite training, knowledge and experience as former commanding officers—and in this case a current commanding officer—and they should have known better.

National Defence committee  It was not the military police. Under the old system—which has since changed but did apply to my case of sexual misconduct—commanding officers had to lay charges. In other words, the military police had to refer the files back to the units to lay a charge or have a charge-laying decision.