Canada-China Relations committee  The Canadian Armed Forces in recent years has also sought to advance our capabilities across all domains, including some of the emerging domains that were just mentioned by Admiral Bishop, such as cyberspace and the information domain. Clearly, what we've seen from state actors is a concerted effort to advance their capabilities across all those domains.

Canada-China Relations committee  Mr. Chair, for the exercise Mr. Bezan is referring to in February 2018, five members of the PLA were present as observers. They ranged in rank. The lowest rank was a sergeant and I think the highest was a major general.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for his question. Yes, as we did throughout the first wave of the pandemic, the Canadian Armed Forces has set a domestic-ready force consisting of regular force, reserve force and Canadian Rangers—and, of course, we have some great civilians in support as well—prepared to respond to the needs of not only major urban areas but also rural environments.

National Defence committee  The Canadian reserves, army, air force and navy, have featured prominently throughout the domestic response whether it be Operation Globe and/or Operation Laser as well. I would give you one very strong, powerful example. In the Canadian Armed Forces' support for long-term care in the province of Ontario, there was a very significant reserve presence.

National Defence committee  Like all of our activities in the Canadian Armed Forces, early in the pandemic we had to work out how we were going to organize to continue to conduct our activities safely in a responsible way, and that included recruiting. In the early period of this pandemic, as we compressed our activities and activated our business continuity plans, the same applied to our recruiting centres until we could learn how to optimize the use of digital tools—and much of that has happened recently.

National Defence committee  We are very sensitive at once to the needs of Canadians, and our chief of the defence staff has directed, of course, through Operation Laser, that we remain poised and prepared to respond to the evolving needs of our country. He has also been unambiguous that we need to continue to be ready for any potential external threats to Canada and Canadians.

National Defence committee  I think different adversaries and competitors, whether they be state-based or violent extremist organizations, are absolutely trying to capitalize on the environment, the uncertainty, the chaos, that's been brought on by the pandemic. It's for that exact reason that our chief of the defence staff has directed us to maintain our edge and to continue to conduct the training that's required for our members to be effective when operations deploy.

National Defence committee  Our medical intelligence capability is a team that evaluates threats from infectious diseases and other environmental hazards. It is really focused on the health supports, or on the Canadian Armed Forces members as it pertains to their deployment on operations. We recognized that in very early January the Public Health Agency had communicated to senior leaders the status of the COVID-19 pandemic.

National Defence committee  Our chief of the defence staff takes very seriously the health of the force—what we refer to as “force protection”. Whether he's deploying Canadian Armed Forces members into combat operations or in support of vulnerable Canadians in long-term care, he is very directive in ensuring that they have the safety equipment they require.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I'm going to hand it back to Admiral Patterson because she is such an inspirational leader in the Canadian Armed Forces for our country, and internationally as well, I will be frank to say. Women have featured prominently in all aspects of our Operation Laser deployment, but they are also standing tall and proud for our country in operations around the world right now.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I'd be remiss if I did not give a shout-out to a couple of other very strong leaders. Lieutenant-Colonel Sarah Heer is currently commanding Operation Unifier. That's our commitment in Ukraine. That is a first. Commodore Josée Kurtz commanded a NATO standing maritime group, which was very significant.

National Defence committee  This partnership between the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Public Health Agency is one that we are proud of in support of Canada. As you indicated, at the start of this pandemic we worked very closely with the Public Health Agency, first of all on the successive repatriations of Canadians from China, Japan and the United States, and on the subsequent quarantine operations that were conducted out of Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

National Defence committee  This issue is currently under consideration by our chief of the defence staff. We are only learning now about the types of vaccines that might be available. General Vance has issued direction to the Canadian Armed Forces, as has our deputy minister to the Department of National Defence, to come back to them with recommendations on how a vaccine might be rolled out internally to the Canadian Armed Forces.

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for his question. This pandemic, of course, has affected everyone globally, and many Canadians in the Canadian Armed Forces have not been spared that. It has required us to make some tough choices, as you've indicated. First of all, to privilege the health of our members, when the chief of the defence staff initially ordered Canadian Armed Forces members to disperse, we activated what we refer to as our “business continuity plans” to better understand the environment that we were operating in and how serious this illness was going to be.

National Defence committee  The Canadian Armed Forces are working very closely with the Public Health Agency and other federal government partners as part of the COVID-19 vaccine task force. We have already committed Canadian Armed Forces members and leaders as part of this effort. Currently, we have a number of CAF members operating out of the Public Health Agency to establish what will be known as a “national operation centre”, which will be the command and control node, or the hub that will coordinate the distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine across the country, including in northern and remote communities.