Madam Chair, thank you once again.
I think this bears repeating. A number of my colleagues have made the point, but just to put a sharper point on it, the ombudsperson really made a choice. He made the choice to bring confidential and unactionable information to a political office instead of sending it to the sexual misconduct response centre or the provost marshal. He had the procedures available to him. He chose not to use them and instead brought it to the minister. He himself told us that he was looking for political top cover. Taking it to the minister made it political, and the minister knew that it should not be political and was very clear on that. He also knew that he could not make a decision based on unsubstantiated and non-existent claims.
I've made reference to the minister's position a couple of times in previous interventions. The committee has asked him to come back, and he has agreed to come back. I just want to put before the committee once again the position of openness he took in his remarks before the committee last time, a position with which he comes to us whenever we hear from him next.
The minister said:
I'm deeply troubled that members of the Canadian Armed Forces have felt trust has been broken and that people believe they could not come forward. No matter the rank, no matter the position, sexual misconduct and harassment is not acceptable. We want it reported. We want it investigated. We want to support those impacted.
Eliminating sexual misconduct and creating a safe work environment for everyone on the defence team has been one of my top priorities as the Minister of National Defence. We have more work to do to ensure that any member of the Canadian Armed Forces or civilian in the Department of National Defence feels able to come forward with complaints without fear of any sort of reprisal.
I also want to recognize the women who have come forward with these allegations. We're offering all available resources to them to help support them through this difficult time. Ensuring their well-being must be our focus.
We recognize how difficult it can be to bring forward allegations, and we must do more to eliminate the barriers that prevent people from reporting. I treat all allegations of inappropriate behaviour, harassment or sexual misconduct with the utmost seriousness. I can assure this committee and all Canadians that any allegations that were brought forward were aggressively and very quickly put forward to the proper authorities. All the proper processes were followed.
Along with the defence team, I will continue ensuring the recent allegations are addressed through the proper authorities. We will have a thorough and deep independent investigation separate from the chain of command.
You want answers, Canadians want answers and I want answers, but most importantly those who have stepped forward with allegations deserve answers.
That is the mindset with which the Minister of National Defence spoke to us when he appeared before the committee. That is the mindset with which he will reappear to answer questions—questions that matter to all members of this committee and questions that matter to Canadians.
In my view, that is the right direction forward. It is not to engage in conjecture of a cover-up and in a massive fishing expedition on all kinds of documents, emails, texts and reports, none of which at the moment are grounded in facts. It is not to engage in pure speculation, jeopardizing the risk of this particular complainant's name being disclosed directly or indirectly, when we actually have the minister in front of us, who can give us directions, and when we have officials and witnesses in front of us who can give us direction. That would be the right time to ask specific questions, to ask for documents, if relevant, and to come to conclusions. Hopefully, once again that will take the committee forward in a constructive direction, at the end of which Canadians can regain trust in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Thank you, Madam Chair.