Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to follow up on a few comments made by my colleagues.
Mr. Paul-Hus was talking about members of the Canadian Armed Forces following their leader or the minister.
I agree. In my view, members of the Canadian Armed Forces understand that the minister respects the institutions and procedures, which are there to protect them. The minister can launch an investigation, which will be conducted in a professional manner with the goal of protecting the victims. I think we all agree that this is incredibly important. Also, it is the Privy Council Office employees who take on this task, and they have the tools to do it, if necessary.
If a politician or any individual outside of this independent process were to conduct investigations, it could pose a great risk to confidentiality. We've talked about this a lot today and in other meetings. It could lead members of the Canadian Forces to believe that the process is not independent. That is my concern.
I want to come back to something Mrs. Gallant was talking about, which is the testimony of Mr. Walbourne. Mr. Walbourne indicated that he didn't have the permission of the person bringing forward the allegations to share his or her identity with the minister when he indicated that he met with the minister.
In that particular case, we all agree that we need to respect people who are coming forward with allegations. We all believe that. We have heard that from witnesses who have come forward and who are experts in this area. Mr. Walbourne, as Mrs. Gallant said, indicated that he didn't have the permission of the person coming forward to reveal his or her identity, even to the minister. On that basis, when the minister immediately went to the Privy Council Office and asked it to look into the matter in an arm's-length way, the ombudsman indicated, when contacted by the Privy Council Office, that he couldn't share the evidence needed to initiate an investigation.
If we believe the wishes of the person coming forward need to be respected, and we cite Mr. Walbourne as an example of respecting the wishes of someone coming forward, we also need to do that. My concern is that this is part of the problem with this motion. We haven't made sure we have the permission of the people who have made allegations. They have not given us their consent.
If we're on the one hand going to say that if Mr. Walbourne wasn't given consent by the person bringing allegations, he should not share the identity of that individual, then I think we have to live by that same principle. We don't know what's in this mass of documents that would be pulled together through this motion. Ms. Gallant indicated that the Liberals on this committee believe, based on our arguments, that the names of people who come forward are being shared in these communications. I have no idea what's in those communications, but we do know that the identity of a person can be ascertained many different ways. It doesn't require that their name be written as first name and last name on a piece of paper. It could be done through a whole range of information put together. We have to be very sensitive to that.
Any communication that involves any information about these cases—specific allegations especially, and the timing and context and all those sorts of things—puts people who come forward at risk for those reasons. That's why I think this particular motion poses a tremendous amount of risk to the people who brought forward allegations. It's also dangerous for people in the future who may want to bring forward allegations. It signals that their information could be discovered through a process like a motion, if passed, like the one we have before us here today.
I wanted to respond to those points, but I also wanted to make that case. It's exactly because of that respect for the wishes of the person coming forward—as cited by Ms. Gallant, citing Mr. Walbourne—that we should also do the same. Therefore, I think these documents risk exposing those individuals who have bravely come forward. We shouldn't take that risk.
Thank you, Madam Chair.