I should have warned you that I was going to speak in French, Mr. Chair.
Before I entered the consulting world, I was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. I was commissioned in June 1988 at the age of 16.
I was educated at the Royal Military College of Canada, graduating with a Bachelor of Chemical and Materials Engineering, and I trained as a naval engineering officer. I served on multiple training deployments at sea as a naval engineering officer. I was one of the first females to serve as a commissioned officer in a combat role on our Canadian ships. I was also educated at the Royal Naval Engineering College of the British navy at a time when they had no women serving as engineering officers.
My service to my country remains among my proudest achievements to this day. During my time with the Canadian Armed Forces, I experienced first-hand the sacrifices that our serving members and their families have to make for the benefit of all Canadians. In particular, many other incredible women have done the hard work of carving out an equal space for all genders in the Canadian Armed Forces over long and admirable careers. I'm so proud to have played a small role this early in my professional life.
After I left the military, I continued my public service in different ways, and currently serve on the boards of the True Patriot Love Foundation, the Invictus Games 2025, and the Royal Ottawa Hospital's Institute of Mental Health Research.
I have always viewed my role as a consultant as an extension of my desire to serve. The modern challenges our society faces are complex and sometimes require expertise and capacity that might not exist in the public service. This is why it is important to have consulting organizations that are able to step in and assist the public service when necessary.
It is every consultant's duty to know when value can really be created. It is also equally important for us as consultant to transfer our skills and capabilities in order for the public sector to be sustainable on its own. This has been and remains a top priority for all the consulting engagements I have been involved with.
I was hired by McKinsey in 2018 to focus on the public sector. I had already been working in public sector consulting for over 22 years and had established myself as an expert in diversity, equity and inclusion. McKinsey was already serving public sector clients, and the firm thought that our Canadian government might benefit from McKinsey's global expertise in certain sector areas.
When a rapid response was needed to the issues occurring within the military's internal culture, for example, McKinsey was able to provide the tools needed to assist. As a female who had previously been in the armed forces, I had first-hand experience with Defence's internal culture. Both McKinsey's global qualified experts and I have training and experience in conducting trauma-informed investigations and interviews.
We led or participated in a series of consultations with quite a few people from a wide range of defence and armed forces personnel. Many of these interview subjects were impacted by gender or racially based discrimination and harassment. As such, it was important that we gather their important perspectives in an independent, external and trauma-informed manner. Through this collection of data and expert analysis, concrete recommendations on how to improve the culture were made for the benefit of not only our military but all Canadians.
It is my firm view that the work I performed as a partner at McKinsey with the Government of Canada was a valuable and ethical contribution.
I look forward to answering your questions today, and I hope to assist the committee in its work.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am prepared to answer questions from the committee.