National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I'm speaking to you from Toronto, the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Chippewa and the Wendat peoples. My comments will be in English. I have been engaged in issues of harassment in the CAF for over 40 years, and I see strengths and weaknesses in the current version of the movie.

Status of Women committee  I think it's important to recognize that it's not a random distribution of military members who deploy. If the decision is that we're sending a battle group for deployment, those are combat arms and women are 2% to 3%. Therefore, we need to look at—and this is a discussion that's going on across NATO—the composition of which CAF badges and which skill sets you need to deploy.

Status of Women committee  My teaching is done at Canadian Forces College, not at the Royal Military College. I am aware, yes, that there are protocols that have been developed and established specifically for the cadet body, based on certain issues. You heard Julie Lalonde talk about her experiences there.

Status of Women committee  Yes. It is still within the chain of command.

Status of Women committee  Having worked with the Australians, I would agree. Australia and the Scandinavian countries are definitely ones that we can turn to, but I wouldn't restrict it just to there. There are several nations in the African Union that have taken really progressive strides in terms of their policy changes, as well as the increase in the number of women.

Status of Women committee  I have two quick comments. One of the primary markers—to go back to some of my comments—in the military is the basic question “Can you do the job?” As long as individuals demonstrate that they can do the job, most of them—not all—are accepted on the job within the team. There are, certainly, individuals who then get the pressures in terms of their personal lifestyle—don't bring it into the workplace; don't bring it into the socialization places; don't bring your partner to the mess.

Status of Women committee  As you have heard, the sexual misconduct response centre has staff who are responsible for providing initial responses and supports to individuals. My understanding is that work is ongoing to move from that which is really a 1-800 number to actually providing some capacity at large bases for face-to-face support, which I think most people would recognize would be important.

Status of Women committee  I'll offer a couple of comments, one particular to the level of government. One depends very much on the image of the military and the ways in which the Canadian Armed Forces are supposed to contribute to defence and security. We had a period of time when it was very clear the military was engaged in major combat missions.

Status of Women committee  Yes, I agree. I think people are aware that the cadet organization is a separate construct, as are the rangers. The Canadian Armed Forces and the cadet organization certainly ensure that when people are joining, they are made aware of the policies, the standards and the expectations.

Status of Women committee  I fully agree, and yes, there are aspects of the culture that I would suggest need to change. As I tried to indicate in my comments, the challenge is that the military goes out of its way to create the soldier. With everybody who joins the military, there are three key things that everybody learns.

Status of Women committee  I'll start with a couple of recommendations. One of the key things in Operation Honour is the duty to report. The challenge with duty to report is that it makes incidents very formal right away. There are individuals who have been on the receiving end of stupid behaviour who don't want it formally reported.

Status of Women committee  I would suggest two perspectives. One is that the challenges that women in policing have faced are the same as the challenges women are facing internally with the Canadian Armed Forces. I worked with the RCMP when they went through their gender and respect program. The internal issues that Kristine pointed out are common.

Status of Women committee  I guess the comment I would make is that I don't think Canadian society is monolithic. Some individuals are more progressive than others, and the same, I think, applies internally within the military. I think there are some individuals, both men and women, who are being very progressive and who are being very open.

Status of Women committee  Neither the history nor the changes, and particularly the legislative changes, are addressed in a systematic way. Individuals can come across it as a result of studies or courses or, commonly, comments from leaders.

Status of Women committee  There are two aspects of this. One is the history. There are places where it is visible. The Canadian military has drawn on the talents of a broad cross-section of Canadians—first nations, indigenous peoples, Japanese Canadians during the Second World War. There are many examples.