Thank you very much.
Thank you to all our colleagues for speaking about this very important issue.
I would like to begin by saying that I agree with my colleagues Mrs. Shanahan and Ms. Larouche.
They did a very good job of explaining that we need to look at things from a feminist perspective, because we are on the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. If we want to conduct this study, it is very important to give survivors the choice to appear before the committee. These survivors never had a choice when they were sexually harassed or assaulted in the past. It is never a choice.
For once, they can be empowered to come and talk. Women are increasingly coming out of the shadows to speak openly. It may take five years, two years, or even 30 or 40 years. That means that they are living with this trauma every day. We need to think about that. The purpose of our committee is to give women the opportunity to come forward. It's an open space where they can come and talk and feel safe.
As Mrs. Shanahan and Ms. Larouche said, if we are going to do this study, it is important to do so from a feminist perspective. It's not an investigation. Our committee's role is not to conduct investigations. Our role really is to empower women. We talked about toxic masculinity. This culture exists and there is no denying it. Every time we see it, it's disheartening. Sometimes it shocks me. It shocks everyone.
Furthermore, as my colleague Ms. Vandenbeld said, we should not mention the names of the people and we should give these women the choice to come and testify, because if we force them to do so, it is intimidating for them. We can't push survivors to come and testify. We have to send them an invitation, give them a choice. We have to welcome them with open arms and be there for them. That is our role as members of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
Of course, investigations are important, but we must give them the chance to speak, for once in their lives, in order to learn what happened and hear their experiences. They then may feel that a weight has been lifted off their shoulders after speaking out. It's a way to alleviate their trauma, if ever so slightly. It is crucial that we proceed in this way as a committee. Some things are reported in the media and the opposition members want to do a lot of things. We have roles to play, as parliamentarians, as government or as opposition members.
As Ms. Alleslev said, this culture has been around for 30 years and we've been trying to change it, and not much has changed. It might be a good idea to listen to the survivors to see what they think. It's important to do so in order to change things. We have been trying to change things in the Canadian Armed Forces for 30 years and nothing is changing. Maybe we should listen to the survivors.
Ms. Mathyssen said something very interesting at our last study. She said that the effects of the pandemic on women were studied by listening to their own stories. So I think it's important to hear their ideas to make things better. If nothing has worked in the last 30 years, we should hear their ideas about what can be done to make the changes work to protect survivors.
I see today that we are all women, but Mr. Serré is still here and we need men like him with us. We agree that the role of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women is to ensure that victims and survivors who come before us feel welcome, protected and safe. They need to feel that we are able to listen to them and that we can make these recommendations to Parliament as quickly as possible in order to implement the desired changes.
We can all work together to achieve this goal.