National Defence Committee on Nov. 8th, 2018

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

I'm not talking about the ATIPs. I'm talking about the statements that were approved and submitted by public affairs.

Did you approve those statements put forth by public affairs?

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

The point has been brought up twice now that this is not directly related to the supplements we're discussing here. The point has been brought up. I would like a ruling from the chair as to whether or not this is appropriate questioning.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Before I do that, to be fair, let me refer back to Mrs. Gallant and ask her how she's tying this conversation back to the notice of meeting and the supplementary estimates (A).

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

It's about Operation Honour. Quite frankly, having this collaboration with members of the government on this committee is quite disconcerting. If the minister and other members of the government are not serious and are not asking the questions that relate directly to Operation Honour, how are the women in Canada's national armed forces supposed to have any faith in Operation Honour and use it themselves?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'll allow it. I would remind you all that we are parliamentarians, and I'll let the minister answer that question.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I'm very happy that you're outraged by this, because we, too, are outraged. We're outraged at the fact that these things are happening in the Canadian Armed Forces. This is why we take this very seriously. As I stated, when this was discovered, immediate action was taken. All Team Canada initiatives have been suspended until we do a thorough review and recommendations are made.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Thank you.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

With regard to information that we had, we want to be more transparent, and we have been. We push out as much information as we can—

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Have any of the military flight crew members been transferred, reassigned or discharged after reporting the sexual assaults committed against them? That's more the norm than the exception.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

One thing I can assure you of is that we will hold people to account when it's been thoroughly investigated. This is a culture aspect that needs to be addressed, and we are doing this. We have taken, with Operation Honour, many steps when it comes to incidents like this and making sure that people are held to account, regardless of position or rank.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

What were the costs of flying out the new military flight crew for the VIP flight back from Greece and Latvia?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Could you repeat that, please?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

The crew that was assaulted was flown back to Canada on a commercial flight, but somebody had to be on that crew to return the flight from Latvia back to Canada. What were the costs for those flights?

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Do you mean the cost for returning our people back to Canada?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

I mean the cost for having a new crew come from Canada to Latvia to be the flight attendants on the return flight.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

When we're talking about how our people are going to be assigned or where they're moved, I think what we're talking about is how we're looking after our people. When we looked at the situation, our first priority was to make sure that our people were well supported—

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

We have the $24,000 that it cost to send back the crew that was abused—

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

Decisions were made at that time to make sure that our people were looked after.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

—but we don't have the amount that it cost to send a new crew to Latvia to take their place because they were gone.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I don't have the answer to your question. Obviously, they can't—

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

We would like that at a future point in time, within the next week or so, so that we can account for it within our estimates.

[Harjit S. Sajjan, Liberal, Vancouver South, BC]

I just want to make sure—because of the passion that you have for something like this—that we can all agree. I want to make sure that we give you the confidence and answer your question with regard to how we look after our people. When any incident like this happens, our first action is always to look at how the person is going to be treated. That's the first aspect we look at. The investigation was immediately launched to make sure that we get to the bottom of exactly what happened so that the appropriate action can be taken. That's exactly what's happening now.

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

When did—

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

That's your time, Mrs. Gallant.

I'm going to give the floor to MP Robillard. The floor is yours.

[Yves Robillard, Liberal, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the minister for his excellent presentation.

The Communications Security Establishment is the only organization in your portfolio to request funding in the budget, apart from the Department of National Defence.

Can you elaborate on how the CSE will play a key role in the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security announced by our government last month?