Evidence of meeting #25 for National Defence in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recommendations.
A video is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Was there something that was passed that said we were not going to hear from more witnesses?
Liberal
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
The parliamentary secretary just said that we weren't going to hear from any more witnesses.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Madam Chair, I'm referring to the amendment that Madam Larouche put to the motion—
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
No, she did not say we weren't going to hear from any more witnesses, Madam Chair.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
She said we need to finish our report on time. It did not say anything about not hearing from any more witnesses.
Liberal
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
That actually reinforces my point, Madam Chair. I stand corrected about the text of the actual amendment, and I would note that we haven't passed the motion that the amendment was amending.
Having said that, this is exactly the point. We have recommendations, and the time to present recommendations was four o'clock this afternoon. Essentially, everything we're doing now is not going to be included in the report. It's not going to be included in the recommendations, because we've already passed the time. That was the piece we confirmed earlier in the amendment that we voted in favour of, that we are going to follow the timeline. The timeline was four o'clock today. We want to make sure these recommendations get in.
Madam Chair, let me talk a little bit about the recommendations that we have heard. I have a few of them here that we've heard during this study. The reason this is relevant is that this is the reason we're here. It's not to call witnesses after these recommendations have already been submitted.
For instance, we've heard a lot of recommendations to this committee on barriers to reporting sexual violence and sexual misconduct. The first one is a recommendation to address barriers to reporting sexual violence within the Canadian Armed Forces, including fear of retaliation and reprisal in response to reporting sexual violence.
Another recommendation was to recommend building awareness of the avenues that sexual violence survivors have at their disposal for bringing issues forward and ensuring that survivors have access to various recourse mechanisms. This is an incredibly important recommendation, because we know that, often, survivors don't know where to go, particularly if something really terrible has happened. We have the SMRCs, we have a number of places. We know that they can go to the military police. We know that there are many different mechanisms.
Often when something happens, members don't know that these resources are available. They don't know that they can get counselling. Frankly, we need to have more counselling available, more peer support for members. This is something we've all heard at this committee. I think that recommendation might be one of the most important ones.
The next one is recommending adjusting the design of existing structures and systems to adequately address barriers to reporting sexual violence, reflecting on past failures. This is also important, because we heard that the systemic barriers that survivors face are extremely difficult. There have been past failures.
The system has failed women. The system has failed the men who are victims. The system has failed the people of the Canadian Armed Forces who are experiencing sexual violence or outright assault, but also the day-to-day things that are done in order to minimize and diminish people. Reviewing and adjusting the structures and systems is very important.
The fourth recommendation that has come up through this study is the reaffirmation of sexual violence survivors' control over the reporting process to build trust and rapport in the organizational structure. We heard that the people who are impacted have to be in control of what happens. If somebody feels the minute they come forward.... What they are looking for, perhaps, at that moment is counselling, but they find that they're suddenly swept into an investigation, that everybody knows about it and that it's no longer in their control. They don't get to decide when, to whom and how they wish to report.
This is a key factor in the recommendations. I think that giving the victims, the survivors, the impacted persons, their control back within the system is going to be a key part of whatever we come out with after this.
The next one, the fifth recommendation, is relieving the obligation to report, which places a problematic strain on victims and survivors, and instead, reaffirming a survivor's right to control the reporting process.
Conservative
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Madam Chair, I have a point of order.
I know that it was suggested that recommendations be tabled by 4 p.m. today. I did not realize that they were required to be presented orally.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
I'm simply getting the recommendations on the record.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Are they made public? We wouldn't want to have anything that the committee had not seen ahead of time be made public before members of the committee saw it first.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
These are not my recommendations, just to be clear. These are recommendations that we've heard, which I'm commenting on in order to make the point that the motion we have today is unnecessary, because we've already heard the recommendations and, therefore, do not need to call further witnesses and don't have to call Mr. Elder Marques. This is in direct relation to the motion we are debating today.
We've had so much testimony—30 hours of testimony. In fact, I have a lot of recommendations to discuss here. I have almost 100.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
On a point of order, Madam Chair, the parliamentary secretary said herself that she is repeating what the witnesses have already told this committee, so repetition is—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Karen McCrimmon
More than one person can say the same thing. It's not repetition, if it's more than one person saying it.
Go ahead, Madam Vandenbeld.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Madam Chair, I'm not repeating myself. I'm amplifying the voices of the experts, the advocates, the survivors—people who have come to this committee and given their voices. I'm amplifying those voices and I am pulling from the testimony the things that are most relevant.
Having a discussion today about the kinds of recommendations we want to have in the report is perfectly relevant, because the whole point of today's motion is that, after these recommendations are in, we're supposed to keep on hearing witnesses.
What I'm trying to prove with this is that we've heard enough witnesses. In fact, there is evidence right here, because we have a lot of recommendations.
Madam Chair, I'm on number five, but I have more than 90 recommendations that I can discuss today and there are probably more that other members have.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
On a point of order, Madam Chair, I'm wondering whether the parliamentary secretary has the recommendations from Elder Marques, so that she can therefore predetermine that these recommendations are—
Liberal
