Status of Women Committee on April 15th, 2021

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Like I said before, it's a recent new role. You have a structure that was created. Can you tell me a bit about why they decided to create this position?

[BGen Andrew Atherton]

It's an evolution of the position. It began with the sexual misconduct response team that was stood up in 2015-16, and there has been a continuing evolving from there, but certainly, when I took over the responsibilities just after Labour Day, the intent was to look at all those broader parts of misconduct, not solely sexual misconduct, and to start looking at it in a much broader term and looking at the culture as a whole.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

What measures and policies will be in place to ensure progress is being made regarding misconduct?

[BGen Andrew Atherton]

One of the biggest elements of the Path that we released in the fall was a performance measurement framework. That was identified through the Auditor General's report a number of years ago. A big part of that is the PMF, where we will look at how we have done. We'll continually measure ourselves.

When we released the Path, it was not meant to be a “one shot and then we're done”. It was meant to be a continuous, concerted effort. Part of that was a method by which we measure how we are performing. That can come in a number of different ways, whether it's through reporting, unit surveys, unit command climate surveys, how we select our leaders and a number of different factors.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Would you like me to jump in here?

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Yes. Go ahead.

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Specifically, how are you being measured and what outcomes do you need to deliver?

[BGen Andrew Atherton]

Me personally in terms of my organization, Madam Chair?

Is that what you refer to?

[Leona Alleslev, Conservative, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Yes.

[BGen Andrew Atherton]

It's important to understand that I work very collaboratively with a number of different stakeholders across the CAF, across the department and internal to our organization. We will be measured on how we get these policies out, how we work with those organizations and, more importantly, how we are getting the message down to the various command teams all across the CAF, from the strategic to the tactical level.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Very good.

We'll now go to Ms. Sidhu for six minutes.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to our witnesses for appearing before our committee. We appreciate the work that you both do within your respective departments.

My first question is for you, Dr. Preston. Can you elaborate on the mandate of the SMRC and the necessity of its services?

[Dr. Denise Preston]

As I mentioned, the mandate has three broad lines of effort.

The first and most important is to provide a range of support services for members who are affected by sexual misconduct. The second is to provide a range of policy advice: advice on the content of prevention programs, on research programs and things like that. The third one is to monitor CAF's implementation of Operation Honour efforts.

Those are the three broad pillars of our mandate.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Where can CAF members access your services? Is there one central base or are there multiple centres across Canada?

[Dr. Denise Preston]

At present we are a centralized service so we have a 1-800 number, as well as a website for people to contact us by email if they so choose. We are in the process of developing plans to expand our services into regional centres.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

How have the services provided since 2015 informed the growth and development of the centre?

[Dr. Denise Preston]

Certainly, as I mentioned in my opening comments, the demand for our services has increased steadily year over year. The volume of calls that we get has certainly increased over time, and in the last couple of months, as you can imagine.

We use that information to inform the development, the expansion or the refinement of our services. For example, we use the data we've collected over the last five years to do an analysis to help us plan for the regional expansion to look at particular regions or locations that perhaps ought to be prioritized over other locations.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Can you address how the centre addresses military sexual trauma, both as support services and as research for policy change. What was the impact of the pandemic during this time?

[Dr. Denise Preston]

With regard to how the centre addresses military sexual trauma as a support service, we provide the same range of support services to anyone who calls us, regardless of the type of incident that's happened to them or the severity of the impacts that people are experiencing.

We make appropriate referrals with the member's consent, so if they simply want information from us, we provide that. If their needs are physical, psychological or spiritual, we would, with the member's consent, make the appropriate referral so they get access to the type of specialized care they need to address the extent or the impact of their symptoms.

In terms of research for policy change, we are well connected to the research branch of the Canadian Armed Forces, so we definitely contribute research projects to that research program. We review, for example, policies or programs related to sexual misconduct to provide advice on considerations that need to be taken in account to ensure that they're trauma-informed, that they're survivor-centred and that they address the range of needs.

We're also currently developing a national survivor support strategy, which would also take into consideration the range of needs that those who experience military sexual trauma need to have addressed.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Preston.

Like women and male members of the LGBTQ community, visible minorities and indigenous members of the armed forces also experience sexual misconduct and other forms of harassment. Can you speak to how the armed forces are able to address these issues from the intersectional point of view?

[Dr. Denise Preston]

Is that question for me or for General Atherton?

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Dr. Preston, if you could give the answer, and then if the general could add to that, that would be good.

[Dr. Denise Preston]

You are absolutely correct that the two Statistics Canada surveys that have been done absolutely identify that members of the groups you've identified experience sexual misconduct at higher rates than other groups. You're absolutely correct that men are also victims of sexual misconduct.

How we take this into consideration in our work is that we consult with the stakeholders, the representatives of the defence advisory groups for all these groups of individuals, to ensure that our work is appropriately informed to meet the needs of these individuals.

We seek the input of subject matter experts with these types of expertise; hence, currently on a consultation group we have someone who specializes in working with men. We also have someone who specializes in indigenous issues. We always strive to ensure that we have appropriate consultants advising all of the work that we do.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

You're out of time.

We will now go to Madame Larouche.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Andréanne Larouche, Bloc, Shefford, QC]

Brigadier-General Atherton and Ms. Preston, thank you very much for the work you are doing.

My first question is for you, Brigadier-General Atherton. You mentioned Judge Deschamps' report.

Can you provide an update on the status of the work surrounding the implementation of the 10 recommendations outlined in that report? As of 2019, seven of these recommendations had not yet been fully initiated.