Certainly. Since the mid-1940s the air force has been investigating accidents and incidents. That process became somewhat more formalized as the Aeronautics Act matured. In the early 1990s the minister directed that an airworthiness program be put in place for the Canadian Forces, and there were several airworthiness authorities that were generated from that, one of which is the Airworthiness Investigative Authority.
At that time, the only mechanism to investigate accidents and incidents was under the National Defence Act. We quickly realized in the mid-nineties, through a board of inquiry process, that this was coming into conflict with the free and open reporting culture, the transparency, and the perception that the chain of command was influencing the outcome of preventive measures, which is the furthest from the intention. As a result of that, the minister had directed that the chief of the defence staff establish an independent airworthiness investigative authority, which is what we have today.
One element that's important, particularly to the ministers making the reports public, is that the chief of the defence staff's delegation order to the airworthiness investigative order has been modified over time. The last was modified in 2008 when the chief of the air force said that the airworthiness investigator was not independent enough from the chain of command, and so he specifically directed that terminology with respect to independence be inserted. The intention there is to again modify the delegation order from the chief of the defence staff to include that administrative process to make the reports public.