National Defence committee  It's very difficult. First of all, complainants are not automatically given a copy of their police reports. In fact, I believe there's a box that the military police can check that says, “Complainant not notified”. I truly struggle to understand why that box is allowed to exist.

National Defence committee  First of all, you would have to find out that the report has concluded, and you don't always get that unless you follow up with the police. Then you would have to go through the access to information system itself to make the request. I believe it took a significant amount of time, maybe up to six months or a year, for me to get that.

National Defence committee  That's a hundred per cent correct.

National Defence committee  Absolutely.

National Defence committee  Sometimes you do get an occasional response from the department saying that they're going to exceed the time limit. I know that an article came out recently saying that they weren't doing that. They started doing that. They've now stopped doing that again. I often follow up with them via email, because I know that attempting to resolve the problem is a prerequisite of going to the Information Commissioner or Privacy Commissioner.

National Defence committee  I would separate them into the access to information system and the privacy system. The access to information system is easily defeated on the basis that it relies on an honour system. As we heard in testimony from the deputy minister, there's no standard procedure under which different groups across the department are required to respond, so there's ripe opportunity for abuse where records can be withheld or deleted and very little accountability.

National Defence committee  All of the facts that I have provided are written in the CAF’s own reports. The military police investigation into sexual assault was founded. The harassment investigation into abuse of power was founded. The privacy breach investigation was founded. The internal investigation into Officer X’s 14-year history of sexual misconduct against multiple victims was founded.

National Defence committee  In November 2022, I provided the access to information, privacy and ethics committee with examples of how the Canadian Armed Forces and Department of National Defence abuse the access to information and privacy systems and deny victims of sexual misconduct the critical information they need to seek justice.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, it's imperative.

Information & Ethics committee  No, and I think the victims and their experiences speak for themselves, on that point.

Information & Ethics committee  That's a very difficult question for me to be able to answer outside of my own experience, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to confirm to you that absolutely, yes. It has been very difficult, and I assure you, without going into further details at this time, that justice has not been served in my own personal circumstances.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you for your question. I certainly believe that in establishing confidence, not just through words but through concrete actions, you can turn a recruitment crisis into a recruiting success. The best spokespeople for the Canadian Armed Forces should be victims who say they have been heard, action has been taken and they strongly encourage every person who is listening to join the forces.

Information & Ethics committee  That is correct.

Information & Ethics committee  I think the simple answer to that question is that there are a lot of creative ways you can suffer reprisals, which are not easy to link back to testimony at a committee. It could be administrative or a reassignment of duties. These are all things that have been flagged, throughout Operation Honour, as things victims have faced after coming forward.

Information & Ethics committee  The short answer to that question is that I would have difficulty pointing to those other organizations, as it's outside the scope of what I've studied. I can say that, from what I understand through other experts—perhaps some of you have heard it at committee or in the news—Canada has an atrocious record when it comes to whistle-blower protection.