Mr. Speaker, day after day, we hear stories of women in the Canadian armed forces who were raped, sexually mistreated or sexually harassed.
The response of the Minister of National Defence is as follows, and I quote “I have no statistical information that would indicate that the problem is more serious in the armed forces than in the rest of Canadian society”.
Are we to understand from this irresponsible statement that the minister views rape, sexual mistreatment and sexual harassment in the armed forces as acceptable, as long as they stay within the national average?