Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Good morning, everyone.

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number five of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs.

Pursuant to the motion adopted on September 18, the committee is meeting to resume its study on suicide prevention among veterans.

Before we welcome our witnesses, for people who are viewing, I would like to provide a trigger warning. We will be discussing experiences related to suicide and grief. This may be triggering to viewers with similar experiences. If you feel distressed or need help, please advise our clerk. For all witnesses and members of Parliament, it is important to recognize that these are difficult discussions. Also, for our witness, if you do not feel comfortable at any point, please let us know. We can pause our committee for you.

I just want to make sure that everybody is aware.

Thank you very much.

Before we continue, I would like to ask all in-person participants to consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table in front of them. These measures are in place to help prevent audio and feedback incidents and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters. You will also notice a QR code on the card that links to a short awareness video.

I would like to welcome our first panel this morning.

We have with us Noémie Veilleux, a licensed sexologist and policy consultant.

We also welcome Ms. Jessica Ruth.

Thank you very much for your service to Canada. Thank you for everything you do, Ms. Ruth.

Each witness will have five minutes to make their presentation. We will then have a round of questions and answers with the members of the committee.

Ms. Veilleux, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Noémie Veilleux, Licensed Sexologist and Policy Consultant, As an Individual]

Good morning Madam Chair, and committee members.

Thank you for inviting me today.

My name is Noémie and I am a sexologist specializing in sexual violence. I am appearing before you today not as a veteran, but as an ally.

In partnership with Pembroke Psychological Services and Valhalla Visions Counselling Clinic, I co‑wrote a report entitled “Veterans First” in which we addressed our current policies regarding Canadian veterans' mental health. In speaking with veterans both here and elsewhere, we discussed certain very important points that right now amount to shortcomings in our system.

I am here today for three reasons.

First, I am here to discuss the fact that for veterans, sexual violence is not just an abstract concept in the Canadian Forces, it is a reality. It is a painful reality.

Second, I would like to address the big problem that nobody is talking about: the culture of silence, both within the Armed Forces and when the time comes for the transition to civilian life.

And third, I would like to address the question of quality of care.

What might this sexual violence against serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces look like? It is not always dramatic. It is woven into the everyday things people do, into degrading comments or jokes about someone's body or manner of dress; it ranges from coercion to silence when the comments are made, or to exclusion of people who say “no”. It may even go as far as repeated physical assault, whether by superiors or by colleagues.

These violent acts are destructive because they take place in an environment where loyalty and trust and absolute obedience come before all else. When that trust is betrayed, the result is not just psychological injury; it is also an identity wound.

I believe it is difficult to see what sexual violence is, because, in a way, it has crept into a kind of normality. It hides behind humour or camaraderie. It is hard to call out in a place where a person may not want to rock the boat, particularly as a woman.

Unfortunately, sexual violence becomes the price that one woman in three must pay in order to serve. It is also important not to forget the men in the armed forces, because they too can be victims of sexual violence.

Why is this not talked about more? Women tend to keep quiet in order to survive, to keep their jobs, and not to be marked as unstable or unable to serve. They are not believed. They are labelled inadequate or incapable of protecting the country or integrating into their corps. They try to avoid jeopardizing their career. This is a survival strategy that then becomes a risk factor, which contributes to perpetuating the violence, over and over.

This silence amplifies the shame, cuts people off from the network, and transforms pain into isolation. When a wound exists in silence, the person tends to develop institutional trauma, trauma that consists of being injured not just by a person, but also by a structure that is supposed to protect us but fails to do so.

What is the connection between sexual trauma and suicide? The numbers are clear on this point. Women who have suffered sexual violence in the armed forces are three to four times more likely to develop symptoms of severe depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. Sexual trauma breaks down the connection between one's body, the feeling of safety, and physical dignity. On top of the trauma suffered in the armed forces there may be a very serious psychological and institutional injury.

Experiencing sexual assault while serving in the forces amounts to being on constant guard. To put yourself in the shoes of a person who may have experienced this kind of assault, you need to imagine that every day, you have to manage your emotions so you don't appear fragile. You have to avoid acting in a way that attracts attention or saying things likely to endanger yourself. You have to go to work and go right back into the very environment where the sexual asault took place, day after day, and not be able to say anything. It means crossing paths with the person who assaulted you, obeying his orders and living in a constant state of hypervigilance.

When a person leaves the military, the strategy adopted for protection becomes a source of isolation. When a person is a veteran, they no longer have a structure, a mission or a team. They are well aware that they are on their own. Veterans go on being inhabited by trauma.

It affects sleep, sexual health, relationships with family and friends, and the ability to ask for help. Sometimes there are also problems tolerating physical contact and constant problems feeling safe, including at home, and holding down a job. So there are really very far-reaching consequences. Some women veterans develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, chronic pain, anxiety and depression disorders, a loss of meaning, shame and even suicidal thoughts. The reason we have come here today is to talk about that.

What role does quality of care play in this?

First, if we acknowledge that sexual trauma is a determinant of mental health, we are already part way there. We realize that there may not be good trauma-informed professional training available in the mental health programs offered to veterans here in Canada. Veterans Affairs Canada says that professionals are all trained and there is at least a minimum level of services, but, in truth, that may not be the case on the ground. When attempts were made to change the system several years ago, quality of care was neglected and professionals who were already offering trauma-informed care, tailored to military culture, were ignored.

Second, we have to think about another point that came out of the report: interprofessional collaboration. Given the present system and existing infrastructure, it is very difficult to facilitate collaboration with the professionals who will be supporting women veterans.

The third and final important element that must not be neglected when it comes to the health care provided is access to in-person care for women veterans who have experienced sexual violence and live with trauma every day, whether sexual or not. This proximity between care providers and front-line personnel creates a connection that is needed for healing.

In conclusion, I will say that requiring that women veterans prove their courage over and over by maintaining their silence is asking a lot. We need to work toward recognition and toward building a system around them that honours their resilience without demanding that they suffer in silence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you, Ms. Veilleux.

I would like to pass the floor to Ms. Ruth for five minutes.

Again, thank you very much, Ms. Ruth, for being here this morning.

[Jessica Ruth, As an Individual]

Hello. My name is Jessica Ruth. I am the widow of Constable Lee Ruth of the RCMP. Lee and I knew each other since we were children and were partners in life before he entered the RCMP at 23 years old. Lee's first posting was in 2006, and he medically retired in 2022.

During his career, Lee experienced people and incidents that would never leave the back of his mind, no matter how hard he tried.

In 2014-15, Lee started seeing a psychologist, followed by a psychiatrist. He was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Throughout his years of policing, there was a gradual change in my husband. He became hypervigilant, irritable, angry, sad and disconnected from his family. He pushed others away when he obviously wanted and needed connection. Lee was determined to get better. He received services from his doctor, three different psychologists at different points in time, a psychiatrist and various Veterans Affairs case managers and clinical care managers.

From 2014 to 2025, Lee was prescribed approximately 37 different types of medications to address his mental health concerns, with many of these having several dosage changes. Lee attended a seven-week residential treatment facility for trauma and attended ketamine treatment. After many years of fighting for his mental health with no positive results, he decided he could no longer fight.

On June 4 of this year, my husband died by suicide, leaving behind me, our children, his parents, his brother and countless others who loved him.

Today I will speak about two important issues: prevention and intervention, and access to resources.

I think it is important to discuss prevention of operational stress injury. Often, police officers, my husband included, work shifts alone. There were many times when backup was located an hour away, placing their lives in unnecessary danger and contributing to poor mental health. When members are off work due to health reasons, this often leaves the unit or the shift short on staff. This creates a workplace environment of animosity, and members are made to feel guilty for taking time for leave or to attend any family-related needs.

As far as I know, RCMP members do not need to attend regular counselling. A debriefing after a traumatic event is great, but from my observations, many do not know how the event has impacted them until later, when they are experiencing struggles.

Before we relocated to Iqaluit, both Lee and I were required to complete psychological assessments. There was no psychological testing required when we transferred out of the north. I believe that if a thorough psychological screening had been completed by an experienced psychologist, there would have been signs that his mental health was at risk.

As a note on access to resources, for veterans fortunate enough to have a case manager, most are not provided with the case manager's direct line but are expected to send an email or navigate phone menus. When someone has significant mental health concerns and legitimate questions about a service, not being able to make a simple phone call to their case manager can have negative impacts. Lee was eventually provided with the direct line to his last case manager.

After Lee medically discharged from the RCMP, we relocated back to western Newfoundland to be closer to family. This transition was not easy for him, and he began to decline even more in his mental health. Lee was very aware of his decline and was active in seeking treatment and resources, but the onus was on him to find these resources. On one occasion, Lee provided consent for me to speak with his case manager, and it was at this time that I learned the case manager's awareness of resources, groups and organizations was based on the information they had received from other veterans or conversations they had with co-workers. There was no list and no database of resources for different areas and locations. If there was a cost associated with accessing this resource, it was my husband's responsibility to have his family doctor or psychologist write a letter stating how this resource would benefit his mental health.

Often, my spouse would talk about sanctuary trauma, a type of psychological trauma that occurs when a person who has already experienced a stressful event is further harmed by the place or institution they expected to be supportive. After years of serving his country as a trusted member of the RCMP to uphold the law, he felt that his needs were often questioned and felt like he had to prove them to be true. The amount of complex paperwork and justification to get benefits approved, which he was entitled to, was very discouraging. This can impede a veteran from obtaining services.

Through CAF and RCMP members, Lee learned of VAC's clinical care managers, who assist clients with complex health needs in forming case plans to build supports and access programs and services. At first, VAC denied him this service, stating that he did not meet the need. Lee would say that though he was considered 100% disabled, he was not ill enough to receive this service.

After much advocating from his psychologist, Lee was reassessed and approved for a clinical care manager. He was reminded on a frequent basis that the services of a clinical care manager were only temporary and an inability to complete tasks could cease the service. Many things he could not follow through with, due to his mental health, and this made him feel more hopeless and caused him to fear that his services would be revoked.

When Lee's clinical care manager planned to be on extended leave during this past summer, he requested the services of another clinical care manager until her return. He was told that now he was too ill for another clinical care manager and that he should consider a local home care worker. I cannot express enough the harmful impact this had on Lee. He felt like people were giving up on his healing and his recovery. At a time when he was the most ill, VAC wanted to switch him from an educated professional with a master's degree who specialized in mental health to a generalized home care worker. Though Lee had a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a VAC case manager and a clinical care manager, they mostly worked in silos, until he became very sick. Then they began to have some care team meetings.

On two different occasions he attended the local hospital. On the first visit, we waited for eight hours to speak to a psychiatrist, who told us that there were no beds available, and because he had a psychiatrist already, there was not much more they could do for him there. The second time we visited, my husband spoke privately to an attending physician and was voluntarily admitted to the psychiatric unit. At 3 a.m., he checked himself out. He explained that they would not provide him with his prescribed sleeping medication and offered no alternative. Lee approached his psychiatrist and suggested admission to another hospital in the province. His psychiatrist advised that there was nothing they could do in the hospital that she was not already doing for him as an outpatient. It was at this point he vowed to never again attend a hospital looking for mental health support, because what would be the point?

At times when I feared for my husband's safety and suggested that we attend the hospital or call an ambulance, he told me that he would not be going and would threaten to kill himself before they would have time to arrive. I expressed this concern to members of his team. The ongoing response I received was that they were not an emergency service and that if I feared for his safety, I had to call emergency services. This was an unbearable cycle of pain and uncertainty that we lived in as a family.

Lee still searched for further service providers and services that might help him, and consulted with different members of his care team. One time he was advised that he would be overserviced. Once again, he was discouraged. He might have been overserviced in VAC's opinion; however, from my position as a widow whose husband took his own life, he was not receiving the appropriate services or care.

The impact PTSD has had on a family unit is significant, and it was suggested that I receive counselling covered by VAC as well. The only way this could be approved was if my husband's psychologist were to state a case for how treating my mental health would help his mental health. Once again, the onus was on Lee to communicate and arrange treatment, adding more for us to navigate.

Families should be given mental health benefits in their own right, not dependent on the veteran. This would give the family the skills to deal with complex PTSD, increasing their ability to support their veteran. In cases like ours, where the worst outcome became reality, it is vital that mental health treatment be in our own right and that we are able to maintain our existing therapeutic relationships. I had to engage with the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman to continue care with my existing therapist after Lee died. We were given six months. Having to fight for continued benefits is already weighing on me.

Since I lost the love of my life and my children lost their dad, we are getting through each day one moment at a time. I assure you that this is going to be a lifelong journey of healing and recovery from the trauma that I have experienced. I will live the rest of my life wondering what could I have done differently that would have saved my husband.

Our children are young and have so much to process with not only the death of their father but also the years of living with a parent who had PTSD. This process will not be a short one. Children need years. They need time to build relationships with counsellors, to open up about their feelings and thoughts. Kids are not often able to connect their feelings with their grief. This is a vital time to help them learn and practise positive coping skills to safeguard their own mental health.

After sharing my experience of losing our mental health benefits with a group of RCMP spouses across the country, one started a petition and connected me with a CAF spouse whose husband had died while deployed. The goal of petition e-6654 is for families and survivors to obtain mental health benefits in their own right for conditions related to service. Together they have created a Facebook group dedicated to advocating for families and survivors to obtain mental health treatment benefits in their own right. When the petition closed, it had 5,420 signatures from across Canada.

Anyone who knew my husband, Lee, knows that he would be the first person to stand up and fight for what is right. He had an ability to connect with so many people on a personal level. He liked the realness in people and wanted to “pump their tires.” This was a term he used for making people feel good about themselves.

Before Lee became unwell, he was a happy person who loved life, his family and his friends. Lee loved our children more than life itself. I believe that he made the ultimate sacrifice in fear of what the impact of prolonged exposure of his complex PTSD would have had on our children and me. Lee had more courage and resilience than anyone I have ever known.

Now that he is no longer able to fight, I feel that it is my journey now to help advocate for better mental health services for the veteran community in the memory of my husband. I am hoping that Lee's legacy will be improved mental health services for RCMP and CAF members and that families and survivors obtain mental health treatment benefits in their own right for conditions related to service.

Thank you for listening to my story.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mrs. Ruth, for sharing Lee this morning with us and sharing a little bit of your life with us. I really want to say on behalf of our committee that our sincere condolences go to you, your family and your friends.

We will now start a round of questions with Ms. Anstey, for six minutes.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Good morning, Jessica.

I just want to thank you for your courage in being here, and again say sorry for your loss from all of us sitting here today.

Jessica, you reached out to our office. One of the things that struck me from our communication was this feeling that you had about feeling disrespected and abandoned in this process. Veterans often feel that way in this journey. I just think it's important that you expand on that a little bit for the benefit of the work that this committee is doing right now around these supports, if you can.

[Jessica Ruth]

Days after my husband passed away, I was in contact with Veterans Affairs to ask, “What next? This is what's happened. Where do we go from here?”

My biggest concern was continued counselling for me and my children. It was at that point that I was advised that we were no longer eligible for this benefit to be covered under VAC. We only receive counselling if it benefits the veteran; we do not receive counselling in our own right.

I could not believe what I was hearing, because, at this time of immense grief when I could hardly put a sentence together, I was thinking about what I needed to do to continue this counselling with our counsellor. I was advised that there is the VAC assistance line, but that is very different from long-term, ongoing mental health counselling with someone you've already formed a relationship with.

I had to start thinking about either applying for my children to be under my work benefits or reapplying under Lee's benefits. Though that does not seem like a lot to some people, when you're in immense grief and you have to think about these things along with everything else that needs to be done, it's a mountain. It's tremendous.

I just felt like, after everything he had done for his country, that we as a family.... You know, they say, “The member serves; the family serves.” I don't feel like they thought we were serving.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you.

To pick up on that point, we're both moms. Our kids play hockey together. Can you describe a bit more what it's been like for your children—their experience as his mental health was deteriorating and also now. I know it's difficult, but I think it's important that we understand that component as well.

[Jessica Ruth]

As his mental health deteriorated, my children, and we as a family, were affected. The kids could see. They would ask questions such as, “Why is dad angry?” “Why is dad crying?” “Why can't dad do these things with us?”

It was very difficult to explain that to our children. We tried our best, but we were in a household where PTSD is living. We requested that my oldest child receive counselling as well. It was covered by VAC because it was in my husband's best interest for our children—our youngest one was not receiving counselling at the time—just to try to help him cope with the environment, his dad's mental health and what that looks like in the family home.

[Carol Anstey, Conservative, Long Range Mountains, NL]

Thank you.

I want to give you an opportunity because when we walk with people through grief, oftentimes when they see something positive come from something that is extremely painful, I think that helps in the grieving process.

What would you like to see happen differently from all of this that can make a difference in the lives of other people who are potentially in the same situation as you?

[Jessica Ruth]

There are a few things.

One I've discussed is mental health benefits in our own right as a family, as survivors, that are not dependent on the veteran. Some veterans do not want to engage in treatment, are sick and do not feel that they can, or are divorced. In my case, it was death. It cannot be dependent on the veteran.

I'd also like to see more involvement for VAC case managers. Right now, with regard to veterans who have mental or physical illness, family members have to be the ones to find resources in their areas. Veterans are dependent on them to get notes from their doctors, fill out paperwork and try to find out what they're eligible for. These are things a case manager should be more involved in. Veterans should have easier access to their case managers.

All these resources should be up front. They shouldn't have to log in their data, their security info, to send an email so that someone will call them back, or to use a voice menu. These things are not helpful when someone has a severe mental illness.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Ms. Ruth.

I would now like to pass the floor to Mr. Clark for six minutes.

[Braedon Clark, Liberal, Sackville—Bedford—Preston, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Ruth, thank you for being here this morning with all of us. Thank you for sharing your own story and Lee's story. I would like to express my sincere condolences for your loss as well.

Ms. Veilleux, forgive me for asking my questions in English, but I want to be very clear.

First, in your opening statement, you touched on the culture of silence, in your words. We've heard about that in previous meetings on this study. It's been praised by other witnesses as a stoic culture, but it's the same general concept, which is a problem, as you correctly point out.

As you've said, there can be a culture of silence within the act of service as well. In your experience, does that persist once an active duty member moves into status as a veteran? If so, how does it persist, and how can we crack that shell a bit and break through that problem that you rightly pointed out?

[Noémie Veilleux]

I'm going to switch to English. I think it's good that we alternate a bit between languages.

Your question about the culture of silence puts on the table something very important, which is that it's not only in the forces that there is a culture of silence. It's present everywhere in and out of the forces. I see it as layers. When you're in the forces, you have a certain layer of this culture, and when you transition to civilian life, you also get all of the other layers that you see in the general population as well.

It persists because your body in certain ways gets so used to these protection mechanisms, if I can call them that, that when you step out of work, you have so many things that change in your life that this becomes your anchor and your new normal. You will try to hold on to what you know in your nervous system, and that is staying silent and coping with your emotions, mostly in unhealthy ways.

How do you crack this? First, I think the other testimony was very moving. It speaks to how important prevention is. We need to understand that even if it is difficult putting numbers to prevention policies, we have to go forward with strong, robust and holistic policies that do include sexual trauma but also sanctuary trauma, and we have to understand that this silence that we carry just becomes part of who we are. It's such a big waste of our identity. From working with sexual violence victims, you get to understand that losing the sense of self becomes the new normal, and this is what we want to avoid at all costs with policy.

We're supposed to be world leaders in veterans mental health. In theory, our policies are some of the strongest in the world. Where we get carried away is in the deployment of those policies, so from a policy standpoint, we can definitely do better. It's not about starting over. It's not about building from scratch. It's about building properly on what's there and understanding that the metrics we use to do policy evaluations are not necessarily appropriate.

I remember hearing ADM Harris talking about the fact that wait times have been halved since the new policy was deployed. If the normal waiting time is three years and you bring it down to one and a half years to get service and proper mental health support—if it's proper—that's the other problem. What type of service and what type of quality do we offer our veterans? There are ways, even if we cannot magically resolve this problem going forward. If we look at the U.K., for example, there is this amazing peer support system that can really make a difference. It is proven that veterans can benefit from having good infrastructure for peer support and mentoring and helping with proper support to transition to civilian life. When we talk about sexual violence victims, this also offers a space for healing. We need to stop medicalizing trauma. We need to understand that we're working with humans who went through very difficult experiences.

When looking at policy, we're starting to lean more toward a people-first policy and not process first. What Ms. Ruth talked about shows so adequately how we put the processes first in our policies. It's not normal to be on the verge of a mental breakdown and go through a phone menu to get support. How can we do better as a country to help both veterans and sexual violence victims in the forces? That is what belongs to us as a community and you being here today and working on this issue.

I would like to conclude on this question. How many stories of suicide do we all need to hear to move on this piece? We shouldn't have to listen to one more story. We should understand that this is real and that the sources of these suicides are anchored in different life situations and experiences, but, if I may conclude, sexual violence is part of them.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you, Ms. Veilleux.

I'm truly sorry, but it is my job to manage speaking times.

Ms. Gaudreau, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

On the subject of prevention, the deputy minister told us that it was difficult to identify the causes and that it was intangible. It is difficult to find the correlation between the pain and something that was done. I want to offer you my sincere condolences.

Would it be possible to do a literature review, as part of your research, to show that there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between sexual assault or other traumatic events and suicide among veterans? We are told that it is difficult to identify.

[Noémie Veilleux]

Mental health is the easy excuse for evading responsibility: say there is no sufficiently clear cause-and-effect relationship for action to be taken, and there is not enough evidence.

But it seems to me that you have heard accounts that do comprise evidence. I am here today to remind you that sexual violence is an insidious and very painful thing. If someone really wanted to collect that data, it would get done.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

It exists.

[Noémie Veilleux]

Yes, this violence exists. The first step, on your part, would be to collectively acknowledge not only that it exists, which is self-evident, but also the difficulties it causes later in life. Sexual violence and trauma are things a person carries with them all their life. There is no point at which a person can say they are healed. Some policies would have it that we could stick a seal on a document declaring that this or that person is healed and will not have a mental health relapse.

As a society, if we want to support veterans appropriately, we can start by recognizing that sexual violence is one of the causes of the mental health problems they experience.

This is a societal choice that does not cost very much. People may be reluctant, they may not know how to proceed, because the evidence is not sufficiently complete, but recognizing the presence of sexual violence in the Canadian Armed Forces means that we, as a country, would have the benefit of robust suicide prevention measures we can be proud of and that enhance our presence on the world stage. We do still have work to do to earn the title of leader when it comes to our veterans' mental health policy.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Care providers work in good faith, so might we imagine that there is compassion fatigue or they do not have the necessary expertise?

[Noémie Veilleux]

To answer that question, I will say that no one puts up their hand so they can go to work thinking that today their work will be bad.

At present, responsibility for hiring health care professionals for veterans falls under a program that might not put the veteran first. Yes, these professionals have received training. But when we look at their terms of employment, we quickly realize that what is offered is designed for people starting out in the field. It is meant for people who are still to some degree mental health generalists.

In addition, we realize that people who were actually well trained to do this work are not offered terms of employment that resemble what existed before the new policy. So they were not able to jump onto the train in motion.

This situation creates a degree of tension on the ground. For example, clinicians who have received training could mentor new clinicians, but they are not doing so, because the system has excluded them.

Unfortunately, the new policy failed to take into account their desire to be included. That is very unfortunate.

That being said, we can go back and bring those people back on board, with us, so there can be real, significant changes.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I don't really have a lot of time left, and I would like to talk about something else.

You said that one woman in three is a victim of sexual violence. What about sexual violence in the LGBTQ2+ community? I am looking for data. Is there even more of a culture of silence, or does this not exist?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Ms. Veilleux, you have 20 seconds.

[Noémie Veilleux]

It is even more prevalent. When we look at the data, we see that there is sexual violence within the general population, but prevalence peaks in that subgroup. In addition, it is even more difficult for someone to report when it means disclosing their sexual orientation.

[Marie-Hélène Gaudreau, Bloc, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.