Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I just want to extend a warm welcome to Mr. Fragiskatos and thank him for his appearance today, his thoughtful comments to the committee, and his recognition and acknowledgement of the position that this committee is in across party lines.
There is no bigger change management challenge in Canada at the moment than the issue before the committees: sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. This parliamentary committee is in a position to achieve change.
We have outlined a large number of recommendations with varying levels of granularity and precision that came to us from witnesses, Madam Chair. These recommendations came as a list. We've grouped them loosely into some categories for digestive purposes this afternoon. However, the real work will happen when we, as a committee, get behind these recommendations, analyze them, and figure out which ones to amplify, which ones to put forward, and in what sequence and in what groupings.
I'll just briefly summarize the categories again. We have recommendations that fall into these areas: barriers to the reporting of sexual violence and misconduct; bolstering existing services and support structures; culture change in the Canadian Armed Forces; and new programs, training and focus.
I want to take just a few moments—with your indulgence, Madam Chair—to outline some recommendations that fall under support for the sexual misconduct response centre, an existing institution that we've heard from before the committee directly and that brings some important recommendations for the committee's consideration.
The first recommendation is to expand the mandate of the sexual misconduct response centre to permit the organization to formally receive reports of sexual violence. That is not the case yet, and I think this is a very important recommendation for us to contemplate and to deliberate as we begin framing and drafting our report.
There's also a recommendation to expand the mandate for the sexual misconduct response centre with respect to accountability and authority over the Canadian Armed Forces, including by facilitating the centre's access to CAF information and databases. There are important discussions there around data sets—their utility, their importance—but also with respect to ownership and privacy.
There's a recommendation to raise awareness, internally and externally, of the sexual misconduct response centre's services and to continue to conduct outreach. Madam Chair, that's very important for, obviously, existing and serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces, but it's equally important for aspirants and for recruits. The presence of the centre suggests that we have not reached a goal yet of eliminating sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. It's still required. It will be there as a backstop for victims, but they need to be aware of its features, its mandates, its restrictions, its opportunities and the level of trust that victims can have in it. Outreach and communication are critical.
Witnesses also recommend the review of the governance structure of the sexual misconduct response centre to improve independence, accountability and organizational effectiveness. That recommendation, in a way, speaks for itself. If we have an existing organization that can add value, let's make sure that it can actually serve the absolute best that it can.
There's a recommendation to further utilize expert advice on supports of the sexual misconduct response centre to address restricted reports. These are unreported incidents, confidential reports and confidential disclosures. The committee has received a lot of testimony on the sensitivity of confidential disclosures, the rights of victims, and the point that they are paramount and front and centre with respect to all considerations of the committee.
There is expertise in the SMRC, and it is recommended that this expertise be utilized to address restricted reports and their implications.