Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our witnesses.
Lieutenant-Colonel Boland, thank you for your service, and thank you for coming forward, outlining the disturbing culture within the Department of National Defence. We thought we were only dealing with the Canadian Armed Forces, but it seems there are cover-ups happening at the department. I'll be asking questions of you later on in the committee.
I want to concentrate my questions first to Ms. Janine Sherman. Welcome back to committee.
You said in your opening comments that you did not receive information upon which to take further action back in March 2018, so I suspect you'll have lots of latitude in answering the questions we have for you today, since you never found anything, in your opinion, that warranted an investigation in 2018.
Can you tell us, Ms. Sherman, exactly who, from the Prime Minister's Office, instructed the Privy Council Office? You said it was Michael Wernick, the Privy Council Clerk at that time, who asked you to meet with the ombudsman.
Who told you and Mr. Wernick to follow up with the allegations about General Vance?