National Defence Committee on March 11th, 2015

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I don't think he needs to be protected by you, does he?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

I would say that it's not relevant to the supplementary estimates (C) that we're studying at this point in time. I leave it to your discretion, or the minister's discretion if he wishes to respond to this question.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

To that point of order, sir.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Mr. Harris.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

We're talking about providing an additional $122.6 million to continue the—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

I don't know how a Twitter account fits into that.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

And communications by the Minister of National Defence on matters of this nature are certainly relevant, but I hope that time won't be included in mine.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Thank you, Mr. Bezan.

I will leave it to the minister to decide whether or not to reply.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

I'm happy that he asked the question, which was should the Minister of National Defence not ensure that communications, such as on social media, are accurate? Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. I think one of the most important reasons for our Operation Impact is to protect the innocent, including women and children, from the sexual slavery and human trafficking of ISIL. That was the point of the message to which the member refers.

According to the United Nations human rights commissioner, ISIL is guilty of abductions, rape, and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against women and children, victimizing at least 7,000 Yazidi women and girls, including children as young as eight, who have been systematically raped and sold into sexual slavery. Regrettably, all of these people are being sold into sexual slavery by ISIL as a fundraising mechanism throughout the broader Middle East. It's not only Yazidi women and children, but Christian women and children, Kurds, and minorities, any of those who are deemed to be enemies by ISIL. As soon as they take a village, a town, a city, ISIL regards these women and children—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Chairman, could I ask the minister not to take up all the time with a very long answer?

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Mr. Harris, you asked a question.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I asked whether he would be prepared to be accurate in the future.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Mr. Chairman, I stand by that message, delivered on International Women's Day, that we are there, in part, to defend the women and children of Iraq.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Mr. Minister, you started partly with expressing your condolences to the family of Sergeant Doiron. I have already, on many occasions, done that publicly and would do so again today.

Part of the investigation into his death is being conducted by the military police and I wonder if you could share with us your confidence or otherwise in the military police conducting that investigation in light of the report to you of the Military Police Complaints Commission that was released yesterday, but which was in the hands of the government since last May. All of those recommendations and findings would have been known to your government.

Do you have confidence in the military police investigative team doing that work? Secondarily, are you prepared to follow the recommendations of the civilian oversight that's there, over which you have authority, of course, and the responsibility to do? Are you prepared to do that? Do you have confidence in them, or should there be other assistance to the military police in conducting this investigation?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

On a point of order, again, there is nothing in the supplementary estimates (C) that relates to the Military Police Complaints Commission report, and I would suggest under the order of relevance to this day that Mr. Harris come back to supplementary estimates (C).

Again, if the minister wants to, he could respond, though he never mentioned this report in his opening comments.

I don't know how you make this a relevant question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Mr. Harris.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

To that point of order, Mr. Chair, I don't know if the minister actually desires and wants Mr. Bezan to try to defend him from questions from the opposition.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

No, I'm talking about proper procedures of the House—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Maybe he's only hoping to use up my time—

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake, MB]

Mr. Chairman—

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Gentlemen—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

—and I hope that will be taken from it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Mr. Bezan does have a point, but again, I leave it to the minister whether or not he wishes to respond.

[Jason Kenney, Conservative, Calgary Southeast, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I want to acknowledge Mr. Harris for his long-standing concern and interest in the Langridge investigation. There is no doubt that this whole affair has been mishandled, as the report tabled by the chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission yesterday demonstrates.

I have not yet had a chance to read the report, as it is longer than 1,000 pages. I have reviewed a summary of its recommendations and look forward to meeting with the provost marshal to discuss the findings and recommendations.

The government did not have the recommendations a year ago. There was an interim report. We have not yet had a chance to digest the 1,000-page report, which indicated that a number of the allegations were not substantiated. However, it did indicate that there was wrongdoing and incompetence on the part of the military police, in many instances. This is unacceptable, and the committee has my clear assurance that I will work with the provost marshal and the military to accept any course of action necessary to ensure that these errors are not repeated in the future.

[The Chair, Conservative, Peter Kent]

Thank you, Minister.

Colleagues, you will notice that the bells are calling us to a vote in 30 minutes. The Standing Orders provide for suspension or adjournment, but with the unanimous consent of this committee, I believe we could carry on for at least 15 minutes. Do I have it?