Mr. Speaker, this is a very important motion before the House today, one that should make Canadians very concerned. It is a motion that should never have had to come before this House. The fact that we, as opposition members, have been left with no other choice but to bring it forward is as important as the motion itself.
The motion is to direct the government to provide the support committees require to carry out their important work, essentially to instruct the government to provide documents and political staff witnesses for the conflict of interest in lobbying in relation to the pandemic spending study and to instruct Zita Astravas, the former chief of staff to the Minister of National Defence and director of issues management for the Prime Minister, and the current chief of staff to the Minister of Public Safety, to appear at the national defence committee for its study on addressing sexual misconduct issues in the Canadian Forces.
Canadians could be forgiven if, after hearing this, they said, “That seems incredibly reasonable. Two House of Commons committees need to hear from critical parliamentary staff to do their work. That makes sense. Why wouldn't they...? Hang on; what is really going on?“
That is why this is such an important motion: It is because this motion is not a root cause but a symptom of something much bigger, something that speaks to some of our fundamental assumptions around the system of government and the values we hold dear.
The defence committee is conducting a study on addressing sexual misconduct issues in our Canadian Armed Forces, including the serious allegations against General Vance, the highest-ranking member in the Canadian Armed Forces, the chief of the defence staff. At the heart of the matter is that it appears that the defence minister, his staff—then Zita Astravas—officials in the Privy Council Office, officials in the Prime Minister’s Office and possibly the Prime Minister himself knew of these serious allegations in March of 2018 and took no action for three years.
No investigation was carried out. General Vance was not suspended. Worse still, in May 2019 the Prime Minister signed an order in council to give General Vance a salary raise to $306,000 a year. General Vance retired as CDS in January of this year, and these allegations have yet to be resolved. A replacement CDS was appointed, and he is now facing allegations of sexual misconduct and has stepped aside from his position during the investigation.
Further, Canadians have learned through numerous media reports that allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in the military have been ignored, investigations have been shut down, critical testimony and evidence have been lost, and charges have been dropped.
Tragically, these are not isolated incidents but a reflection of a much more damaging systematic problem.
A similar report from Justice Deschamps on the misogynistic and toxic culture within the Canadian Armed Forces was published in 2015.
Operation Honour, a military campaign designed to end sexual violence, harassment and misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces, was created. General Vance, who led this operation, was responsible for eliminating the very acts that he himself is now accused of.
The Minister of National Defence was aware of this in 2018 but did nothing. That is the reason for today's motion, and it is why it is so important to hear from Zita Astravas, the former chief of staff for the Minister of National Defence. We need to know what she knew, when she knew it and what she did about it.
We will not be able to make any long-lasting changes to the military's culture if we cannot understand the full scope of the problem and if we do not know where, exactly, things went wrong.
A military stands to defend the values of the nation, but it must also embody them. If the defence minister does not hold the military accountable to those values, including the ability for all members to serve equally with honour, free from sexual assault and discrimination, then who will? If the House of Commons committees cannot do the work to hold cabinet ministers accountable, who else can?
While this motion is about mandating that committees can hear from critical witnesses, it is about much more than that. It is about the fundamental values and foundations of our society. When it comes to ensuring conduct of the highest level in the Canadian Armed Forces, the defence minister says it is not up to him, and the Prime Minister has said that it is not up to him. If it is not up to them, then who is responsible? If they will not act in the best interests of Canadians, who will?
The ends cannot justify the means. Every act at every step must be honourable and carried out with integrity, or the end itself is compromised. Democracy is fragile and is only as strong as the trust and confidence that Canadians place in all of us, their elected officials. That trust is hard won and easily lost.
I strongly urge all of my colleagues in the House to honour the trust that Canadians have placed in them by voting in favour of this motion to ensure that committees can hold the government to account, and in doing so deliver a better Canada for all.
