Thank you, Madam Chair.
First, I want to thank you for being here. Our committee is studying this question in order to gather information. Whatever questions I put to you, my purpose is to obtain information. I am not seeking confrontation. I wanted to make that clear because I have some rather pointed questions to ask.
I was looking at the figures quoted in each presentation. Mr. Gauthier said that there had been 375 harassment complaints out of 16,000 since 2006. We also heard that there were 65 harassment cases out of 1,471. Concerning military personnel—I think it was Mr. Wenek who said this—over 10 years, there have been 513 harassment complaints, and 6% in another file.
I reacted strongly to this. These are undeniably interesting figures. I am wondering about something Mr. Gauthier said. He said this in his brief: “While our investigators attempt to resolve complaints informally and at the lowest level possible [...]” The lowest level possible may correspond to unions, to the immediate supervisor or to military police.
Without wanting to attack you, I must say that the population does not have the impression that this works very well, with respect to harassment and sexual harassment in the Canadian Forces. That is not the image that is being conveyed. I wonder if many cases get settled before arriving at the level in question, and in what order. I am not asking you for figures, since, clearly, you would not have them with you. Are we talking about 80% of the cases, about most cases or complaints? Have you had any feedback? Do you have any information on this topic?