House of Commons photoWon his last election, in 2021, with 49% of the vote.
National Defence June 7th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, we are absolutely committed to making sure that we respect human rights and international law in all of our operations. Training is always done for our members, and any unit that our members train goes through some rigorous training. Every situation like this is rigorously looked at and the current allegations are being looked at by the military police.
National Defence Act June 1st, 2021
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 96 of the Statutes of Canada, 1998, c.35, I have the pleasure to table, in both official languages, the third independent review by the Hon. Morris J. Fish, C.C., Q.C., of the provisions and operations of Bill C-25, an act to amend the National Defence Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts.
National Defence May 25th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, we know that the measures we have implemented have not gone far enough and that we have much more work to do. More needs to be done to fully enact the structural, legislative and cultural changes outlined in Justice Deschamps' recommendations. This is one of the reasons why the sexual misconduct response centre reports to the deputy minister and not to the military.
More work needs to be done and this is why we have appointed Justice Arbour, who will build on the work of Justice Deschamps to examine defence culture and provide recommendations on how to effect that culture change.
National Defence May 14th, 2021
Madam Speaker, as we have stated, any time information was brought forward on any type of allegations, we always immediately forwarded it to the appropriate agencies for the appropriate action, which is something the member opposite and the former government also did when allegations were brought forward. However, the Conservatives still appointed General Vance when there was an investigation going on at that time.
We know that we have a lot more work to do. It is something that we, as a government, are absolutely committed to.
National Defence May 14th, 2021
Madam Speaker, I will let the member opposite continue on with the partisan attack. We are going to stay focused on making sure that we have an inclusive environment inside the Canadian Armed Forces. That is why we have implemented the path to dignity and respect, a strategy for long-term culture change to eliminate sexual misconduct within the Canadian Armed Forces.
We know we have a lot more work to do. We also have a lot more work to do when it comes to systemic racism, which is why we have an independent panel working on that as well. We will get this done.
National Defence May 14th, 2021
Madam Speaker, our government takes allegations of sexual misconduct extremely seriously, and no one should feel unsafe at work. That is why we passed Bill C-77, a declaration of victims rights that puts victims at the core of the military justice system, which reviews unfounded cases.
We also created a sexual misconduct response centre. We know that we have a lot more work to do, and we are going to get it done.
National Defence May 11th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, our government takes allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. No one should feel unsafe at work. That is why we created the sexual misconduct response centre, which provides confidential 24-7 support services to CAF members anywhere in the world. We also listened to survivors. We put in place a response and support coordination program for CAF members who have experienced sexual misconduct.
We have a lot more work to do and we will get it done.
National Defence May 11th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, we take allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously and immediate action was taken. We need to make sure that no politician is ever involved in any type of investigation. That is why the information was given to non-partisan public officials. It is also very important that the previous government followed that process.
We need to make sure that we listen to survivors and that we have a harassment-free workplace in the Canadian Armed Forces. This is something that we are absolutely committed to doing.
National Defence May 11th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, no politician should ever be involved in the investigation. We take swift action and swift action was taken. The information was brought forward, and it was immediately passed on to the Privy Council Office, which followed up with Mr. Walbourne the very next day.
As I stated, we have a lot more work to do, and we will get it done.
National Defence May 11th, 2021
Mr. Speaker, when Mr. Walbourne brought the information forward, I reached out immediately to the Privy Council Office. Privy Council Office officials then reached out to Mr. Walbourne the very next day. That is immediate action.
However, we know that we have a lot more work to do. Our government takes allegations of sexual misconduct very seriously. No one should feel unsafe to work. Some of the work we have been doing includes passing Bill C-77, a declaration of victims rights, to put victims at the core of the military justice system. It also reviews unfounded cases. We have more work to do, and we will get it done.