Status of Women Committee on May 11th, 2021

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 34 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

This meeting is in hybrid format pursuant to the House order of January 2021.

We are studying sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces.

We will let our witnesses have their five minutes of opening comments.

If you need interpretation, look at the bottom of your screen and you can pick “English”, “French” or “floor”. When you're speaking, please speak slowly and clearly for the interpreters. When you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

We're really pleased today to have Dr. Leah West, who is an assistant professor at Carleton University. We'll begin with her five-minute remarks.

Go ahead, Dr. West.

[Dr. Leah West, Assistant Professor, Carleton University, As an Individual]

Thank you for having me.

With the brief time I have, I'll try to do three things: first, introduce myself and how I found myself here today; second, identify what I believe to be the root cause of the CAF sexualized environment identified by Justice Deschamps in 2015; and third, discuss a way forward.

To begin, why am I here? I served in the CAF for 10 years as an armoured officer. I graduated at the top of my class from RMC in 2007 and immediately took command of an armoured recce troop. One Thursday night at the end of my first year with my unit, I was sexually assaulted by a superior at a house party that was well attended by other junior officers in my regiment.

At work the next day, I was ill and passed out on our squadron's bathroom floor. An ambulance and MPs arrived and took me to a civilian hospital. I did not know exactly what had happened to me the night before or why I was so ill. Almost everything after the first drink was poured for me was black, but I did know where and how I woke up.

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

On a point of order, Madam Chair, there are issues. I can't hear anything she's saying. I'm sorry.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm sorry. Is anyone else experiencing a problem with the translation? Yes. Okay. There are a couple of issues.

I'm sorry, Dr. West. We'll just pause while we fix this technical issue.

We can restart.

[Dr. Leah West]

Would you like me to start from the beginning or from where I left off?

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

From where you left off would be great.

[Dr. Leah West]

Great. Thank you.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Stephanie Bond]

Could we just remain on suspension? I'm actually losing the full feed, so perhaps we could get some assistance from within the room. We're losing the entire feed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

We can start again, and I will leave it to you, Dr. West, as to where you want to start. I will be very generous with the amount of time, so don't feel rushed in any way.

[Dr. Leah West]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

As I was saying, I was assaulted at a house party. I don't know exactly what happened to me because everything that evening went black, but I do know where I woke up and the state I was in when I woke up. Standing over my gurney when I was taken to the emergency room were two male MPs who convinced me to have a rape kit done. I agreed, and it revealed intercourse but no evidence of drugs. I never saw or heard from the MPs again.

The following Monday, my commanding officer called me into his office, somewhere I'd been probably only twice in my life prior to that. The MPs had informed him of what happened and he looked at me and asked, “How do you want me to handle this?” I didn't hesitate. I knew what I was expected to say, and I said it, “Nothing, sir.” I told him that because I couldn't remember the exact details of the assault, I would modify my behaviour and who I could trust—

[Jag Sahota, Conservative, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Madam Chair, on a point of order, I can't hear her. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Dr. West.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

I'm so sorry, Dr. West.

Clerk, I'm looking to you, if you want to suspend and take care of the technical things, and perhaps you can call me.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Madam Chair, can you ask other members? I'm hearing everything clearly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Yes, I'm hearing everything as well.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Can you ask other members?

[The Clerk]

I believe it may be a connection issue. I am hearing a little bit of reduction in sound. That's why I am not suspending. I don't want to interrupt Dr. West any further. However, if someone does lose connection or lose interpretation, if you could just raise your hand and we will suspend at that point, but at this point I'm hearing no stop.

Ms. Mathyssen, do you hear a break in interpretation?

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

Yes, and the echo is so bad that I can barely hear what Dr. West is saying. I think my situation is the same as Ms. Sahota's.

[The Clerk]

Can I ask you if you are on the floor or the English interpretation?

[Lindsay Mathyssen, NDP, London—Fanshawe, ON]

I'm on the English interpretation. I can switch.

[The Clerk]

Can we go to the floor? Let's all use the floor at this time and see if we can proceed. Please let me know just by raising your hand.

Again, my apologies to Dr. West.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Mr. Serré, do you have something to say?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I just want to mention, Madam Chair, that the floor works well. I'm on the floor. We had the same issue in the natural resources committee. Anybody who was in English or French had problems, but the floor was working beautifully. We had that issue on Monday. I think there are other issues with other committees, that if you're on the floor it works well, but if you're on English or French, there are problems.

[The Chair, Conservative, Marilyn Gladu]

Okay.

[The Clerk]

Ms. Vandenbeld, do you have any issues hearing on the floor?

[Anita Vandenbeld, Liberal, Ottawa West—Nepean, ON]

No, on the floor I have no issues. However, I wonder if we could ask the witness if she's okay to proceed at this point, because it can be very difficult to start and stop such difficult testimony.