National Defence committee  That's an excellent question. Thanks very much. I would offer that I joined in 1982, 40 years ago. At that time I had been air cadet and an army cadet. My father was in the military, as was my uncle, and my brothers were all in the reserves. I liked the lifestyle. I thought that I would give it a chance, and I joined while I was at Queen's University, thinking that I would give it a couple of years and see how it went.

Status of Women committee  That's absolutely fair. It is about people. Behaviours and a respectful work environment are about how people treat people, and if they aren't living up to the values that we as military folks espouse, then I think they're in the wrong business, regardless of whether they're in the military or anywhere else.

Status of Women committee  There are two aspects to why we want to treat people well. There's the social imperative, I'll call it, which is just the common sense and right way to treat humans. There's also the operational imperative, which is that we cannot be an effective operation or military force doing some very dangerous work if everyone in the organization doesn't feel as though they are a part of the team and they are being respected and are able to be as good a person as they can and bring to the team as much as they can.

Status of Women committee  If I were still serving, I think my focus would be on maintaining the momentum that has been created in the last couple of months to ensure that we do hold accountable those individuals who have broken the law or conducted themselves in a way that is contrary to what is expected of a Canadian Armed Forces member.

Status of Women committee  I believe my comment in the CBC interview was that there is a misunderstanding within the rank and file, within the uniformed members of the Canadian Armed Forces, about who they can go to. There are a lot of different support networks available, whether through the chain of command, the MPs, the military police, the medical folks, the SMRC or the ombudsman.

Status of Women committee  I did not go to the Royal Military College, except for my master's program. I went to the sister university, Queen's, so I don't have any experience back from the early 1980s as to what it would have been like while I was there. I can tell you that when I was the chief of military personnel prior to going to NATO, I was responsible for the Royal Military College and had a couple of opportunities to look at how leadership was being developed, the academic program and a number of other issues.

Status of Women committee  I'm sorry, Madam Chair; I am not up to date on that. I'm sure Major-General Whelan could get that information for you. I can say that in the last couple of years, there have actually been mental health experts who are physically positioned right at the military college, to my understanding, so that they can provide an immediate resource to any of the officer cadets or the staff who may be having any issues.

Status of Women committee  To prepare for this appearance, I've been reading some of the reports from the last little while. Obviously, when I was in NATO, I wasn't particularly into the details of what was happening here in Canada. However, I estimate that probably the majority, if not all, of the recommendations that we put through at the time have been addressed.

Status of Women committee  I have a couple, to be honest. All of the foundational work needs to be fully maintained. We need to work on the policies. We need to work on training, education and all that stuff that's already been talked about. I also believe that it's time to set aside the thought that the Canadian Armed Forces could probably deal with this internally.

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, I wouldn't necessarily say it was a complete failure. Back in 2015 when we did Operation Honour, we certainly don't know what we'd do today and we don't understand.... I think we underestimated the amount of effort, the amount of work and the actual detailed work that's required to change a culture.

Status of Women committee  I don't think I ever looked for it, so I would never have presupposed somebody was from a rural or urban area depending on the way they treated people. The bottom line is that you've got to treat everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of where they come from and regardless of whether you're working within the confines of Canada or externally.

Status of Women committee  I have been paying attention to the committee proceedings for the last couple of weeks and I was absolutely dismayed.... That is not a good word; I was almost sick to my stomach on the testimony I heard Tuesday evening of some current and retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Status of Women committee  I am certainly not surprised that sexual misconduct exists. As the committee is probably aware, I led the strategic response team on sexual misconduct after the Deschamps report in 2016. Honestly, I had the honour to meet with thousands of Canadian Armed Forces men and women across the country to discuss this behaviour and to discuss the value system that the Canadian Armed Forces upholds and expects of every single member of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Status of Women committee  I've publicly stated that the culture of the Canadian Armed Forces when I joined.... Let's remember that I joined in 1982, almost 39 years ago. The culture then was a little different from now. I joined an occupation that had only just allowed women into the ranks, and they were ill-prepared, to be honest, in allowing women to come, but I can't say I experienced all the heartache that Major Brennan has expressed.

Status of Women committee  Madam Chair, I don't think we can differentiate in Canadian Armed Forces individual behaviour, whether they're inside or outside Canada. The values we uphold here in Canada have to be distinctly upheld, and probably more importantly in the international theatre, because I honestly believe people really do look to Canada for a value system that isn't necessarily in place everywhere that we deploy.