Evidence of meeting #136 for National Defence in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was women.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
That's good.
Is it possible to find out about the diversity in the military police?
April 11th, 2019 / 4:25 p.m.
LGen Charles Lamarre
I imagine so.
4:25 p.m.
LGen Paul Wynnyk
I cannot give you the statistics right now. We would have to come back to you. I would have to take it on notice. Offhand, I would not have that.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Martel Conservative Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Okay.
I would now like to talk about the auditor-general's report on inappropriate sexual behaviour in the Canadian Armed Forces. It indicates that, in a sample of 46 cases, 35 were closed and it took an average of seven months to process 31 of those 35 cases.
I want to know whether the military police is adequately equipped for that.
4:25 p.m.
LGen Paul Wynnyk
Yes, they do.... But to give a bit of background, at one point the military police—and you may be aware of that—were told to resolve all cases within 30 days. That was a blanket direction to solve all cases. Sexual misconduct cases are hard and complex, and in fact we would have done them a great disservice by rushing them through.
The provost marshal right now has a special team that very much looks at sexual misconduct cases. He now has six teams that are specially trained in sexual misconduct. There is a liaison officer who works in Dr. Preston's office.
These, quite frankly, are cases that we don't want to rush. We want to make sure that the resources are brought to bear on this, that there's no shortage of resources. That's the way it's being approached to make sure that all the cases are investigated as thoroughly as they need to be. There's a wide variety, of course, depending on the circumstances of any particular case.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Dr. Preston, going back to your earlier exchange with I think Mr. Garrison, you were talking about the unwillingness of CAF to accept recommendations previously.
Can you explain why that was?
4:25 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
I'm not sure whether it was unwillingness per se. I don't know what to attribute the fact to. The fact is that Madam Deschamps, when she did her review in 2015, recommended that an independent centre be established and that it be tasked with a wide variety of responsibilities related to sexual misconduct.
That was not in fact the structure that was set up in 2015. There was Commodore Patterson's organization that was set up as a strategic response team. Our centre was stood up and specifically tasked with victim support.
In terms of why that happened, I'm not sure. The two organizations, for the past three and half years—
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Who is responsible for making the decision to set it up the way that it ended up being set up?
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
That predated me. That probably would have been the deputy and the CDF at the time, I'm assuming. The two organizations have been required to work in close collaboration, essentially, to ensure this priority is addressed. The Auditor General came in and essentially made the same recommendations and—
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
The same as the ones that were not followed through?
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
Yes. He recommended that there should essentially be a transfer of responsibilities from the CAF side of the house to the sexual misconduct response centre and that CAF should make more use of the expertise that they have, both within the centre and with external experts outside of the Canadian Armed Forces.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Do you think that there could have been some cultural element within the military to not want to put it outside of CAF?
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
I would only be speculating.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
Whether it was a cultural factor that they didn't want to reach out or whether it was simply.... What I've certainly noticed working with CAF is that they're very task oriented and they very much have a culture of taking care of their own, so I think that they applied themselves to the best of their ability to do what they could and sought some input, for example, from other military organizations, but I think didn't realize how complex this issue is and didn't realize the need for very specific expertise.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
They do. I'm confident in that.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
When it comes to diversity within the military, do you think that there is a much better understanding now of what's required to make that work, from a cultural perspective?
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
Do you mean with respect to diversity or sexual misconduct?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
No. I mean when it comes to diversity in terms of getting more women into the military.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
I would say yes. That's certainly not my area of expertise.
I think questions related to diversity would be better directed—
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
I'm only connecting the two because I think that unless the cultural elements around the sexual misconduct are properly taken care of, we're not going to be able to really expand where we want go in terms of diversity.
What I'm getting from you is that you do believe that those things are being looked at very seriously now and that it's perhaps being treated differently than it had been previously.
4:30 p.m.
Executive Director, Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, Department of National Defence
I do. I've certainly seen a difference in terms of how the Operation Honour or sexual misconduct file has been addressed just since I came in. I've been there for two years. When I first came in, we were working collaboratively with the Canadian Armed Forces, but there were tensions and struggles over who should have responsibility for certain things. That has shifted over time for a number of reasons. I think part of it is that I had to come in, establish credibility, show them the value of the expertise and gain trust as well. Then the OAG made similar recommendations.
