National Defence committee  Honestly, sir, for us the measure of success is when we interview soldiers at the end of a mission and they tell us whether they were sufficiently trained to go or if there is additional training they require or that their successors require. It's a pretty simple metric for us, but it's really about what else we need to do to go forward.

National Defence committee  To be honest, sir, I think there's a good need for the United Nations to have that centre. I'm not sure which country should or shouldn't invest in it or where it needs to go. It doesn't really matter. It's about having the effect. I think that would be a good thing for the United Nations to have somewhere.

National Defence committee  That is a result of our lessons learned process. With every mission coming back, we have somebody assigned to go out to talk to people. What did we do well? What did we not do well? How can we improve our training? We have constant feedback into our cycle to ensure that if somebody went over not as well prepared as they would have liked, we ask what we need to do.

National Defence committee  I would say that that is a strong possibility.

National Defence committee  Those who pilot helicopters during an evacuation are members of the Air Force. Who will man those helicopters? We have a fully trained medical staff from our medical system to perform the medical operations. Having seen the first rotation go through, I can say we have a group of fully trained, highly lethal soldiers who are tactically proficient and able to protect the crews and anybody who might come into them.

National Defence committee  Their mission first and foremost is medical evacuation. And so the troops don't travel on the roads, where there is a risk of ambush or improvised explosive devices. I would say that for the most predominant threat in that theatre the bulk of our troops will be shielded by being inside a well-protected compound and also by flying over it.

National Defence committee  I will have to look into that, ma'am. Quite honestly, I'm not tracking this particular mission, but I can get you a very quick and simple answer to that.

National Defence committee  The chief of the defence staff always retains full national command over any soldiers deployed anywhere in the world—any Canadian Armed Forces members. Sorry, my bias is showing. He has the ability to countermand any orders. We have absolute responsibility to remain loyal to his order.

National Defence committee  We have recognized, sir, the diversity and the strength of diversity in the military. There are parts of the world where a female soldier will just have a different level of credibility than a male soldier will, and vice-versa. We need to have a really diverse and talented team so we can pick and choose the best people for a given theatre of operation.

National Defence committee  I would say, Madam, that it's put an impetus on us to increase our recruiting drives. We've been trying for well over a decade to increase the number of female recruits into the Canadian Armed Forces. We're trying to make sure that we're bringing in as many...because we recognize the value of diversity.

National Defence committee  A few years ago we put in place a program called gender-based awareness plus. It strove to allow commanders and staff to realize that there are different segments of the populations we'll be operating within, and we need to recognize they will all have a different perception of what's going on.

National Defence committee  Within the military we have a professional military ethos. We have a written code of ethics. We incorporate into all of our training...and most recently, have implemented Operation Honour, which has a focus on ensuring that every member of the military treats others with respect and dignity, appropriately.

National Defence committee  It's rebuilding absolutely, because we generally tend not to go into places and try to impose something. The rebuilding of institutions is absolutely a core mandate of every mission that I've seen for the United Nations, and many of our military allies, going into in the past.

National Defence committee  I think she would come in with the advantage of a perceived neutrality between warring partners—in a lot of cases, but not exclusively. I think she'll come in with the respect for civilian institutions and the dominance of the civilian parts of the population, as opposed to a predominantly militaristic authoritarian structure.

National Defence committee  When we're looking to deploy a soldier, we've gone past regular and reserve force. We're deploying a properly trained soldier. Personally, I've gone to six different families to notify them of a soldier's death overseas. Our leadership is absolutely committed to giving training to prevent deaths.