As you know, this is a problem society faces and we are a microcosm of that society.
The challenge is being able to articulate what that change needs to be. The one thing we do know is that everything we do is founded on respect and dignity. You have to go back to basics, as they say. What is it that the Canadian Armed Forces is? What do we value? What are our ethics and what is our ethos? There was a mention made of “Duty With Honour”. That's actually a document that articulates the ethos of the profession of arms.
What we're actually looking at, though, is how we articulate bringing us back to what our ethical bases are, what we believe in and what our culture should look like. That is the first step, and that work is under way.
The challenge is that there is no road map. Therefore, what we are hoping to do, as we look at the actual philosophy behind the cultural change we need to make in the CAF, is to look at it from a prevention perspective, because I don't believe it matters that I'm talking about sexual misconduct. It could apply to harassment, racism or anything if we have a founding principle of respect and dignity for all.
Our challenge, then, is how to articulate that. One thing we value hugely is external advice, and that is why we are happy to.... We were at the Status of Women Canada advisory board this morning. What a fabulous group. What a fabulous organization to help us change and figure out where we need to be.
This is why, when we look at who is trying to articulate the strategy, Dr. Preston and I are collaborating on this as co-chairs to come up with where we want to go. What we want to be able to do is to put these out-of-the-box ideas on the table.
One thing I can confirm to you is that there is a huge desire to figure out how to accomplish this change, and we have been given some flexibility to try to say that this is where we need to do, where we need to go and how to inform it.
Again, I say external advice is always greatly welcome, especially in academic research, etc., and it is challenging.
Would you like me to pass it to Dr. Preston?