Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also want to thank the other members of the committee for putting this forward as a motion.
I think we've all been shocked by the serious allegations and we all agree that it's important that our committee study this issue. Minister Sajjan takes this extremely seriously, and I have full confidence that he will make himself available to this committee to testify.
It goes without saying that we have to be very careful that nothing we say, either in our line of questioning or in the committee, could potentially prejudice any ongoing or future investigations, including investigations by the Canadian Forces national investigation service and the military police.
I believe that our committee could have a really important role to play, not just on this issue but also in providing recommendations on how we can improve on the efforts that have already been made in order to make sure that every member of the defence team, every member of the Canadian Armed forces and DND, feels that they can be safe in the workplace. This is something that, as many committee members know, I have been working on for a very long time and something the minister is very committed to, and I think the committee has a role to play in that. I also think it's an opportunity to look at the vetting process that the former chief of the defence staff underwent during his appointment.
I would like to propose two amendments, two technical changes, to the new motion that was put forward today.
One would be that we change from five meetings to three meetings. Of course the committee and the steering committee could always look at this in terms of our ongoing studies, but I think that for the time being, we should have three meetings. I note that originally there were to be even fewer than that.
The other thing is that I share the concern raised by the chair earlier that it has been convention in this committee and other committees that we not talk about which witnesses and who is going to propose a witness and start voting one by one on different witnesses during the committee meeting. Traditionally different members have submitted witness names to the chair, and I've noted that the chair has been very fair in making sure that all of the priority witnesses that any of us have submitted are actually called to testify. It's just as a matter of procedure, but I would prefer that it be done that way.
Because of that, I would like to amend the motion to take out the suggested witness names except for that of the minister. I think that one is very fair, and we can leave that in. I think the minister has always come to this committee when asked, and I have full confidence that he will do so again. In terms of other witness names, I think we should take those out of the motion and then each member can submit to the chair whatever witnesses they wish. I do note that there may have been talk of other members wanting to put forth individual names, and I don't think this is the best practice.
I am fully prepared to support the motion with those two minor changes, changing five days to three days and taking out all of the proposed witness names other than that of Minister Sajjan.
Thank you.