National Defence committee  Most definitely. This office has been involved with this type of issue—especially the mental health issue—since the first report, I think, in 2003. I think the last time the former ombudsman had testified, of the 447 positions they had created, only 380 had been staffed. From what we understand right now, 425 have been staffed, and Alain was telling me yesterday that there are staffing processes in place for the balance of those.

National Defence committee  Well, I'll boil it down to its base place, if I may. I think logic needs to be brought to bear when you look at unfairness. Some things are blatantly unfair, and I talked a little bit earlier about collaboration. We deal with the department at many levels. I do believe one of my roles is to get the seniors from the chain of command and the department to understand our position and what we're finding.

National Defence committee  In regard to my vision, I'll take the question in relation to the transition piece between the two entities. As I said earlier, I do believe that there is a great opportunity for me and for the ombudsman at Veterans Affairs to help bridge the gaps: the transition piece, this handover versus hand-off, the digitalization of files, and those types of things.

National Defence committee  Sometimes it is a monetary issue, and other times it's not. Sometimes it could be a posting that someone, because of family responsibilities or issues, cannot move to at that point in time, so their resolution would be not to be posted in that particular season.

National Defence committee  As Alain said, it would be turned over to the military police or in some cases civilian authorities. I think it goes back to the point that we were talking about earlier. I think the reason for this external review is that this is part of the problem. People will not come forward because of the revictimization piece.

National Defence committee  I believe there are failings all around. Again, I'll have to go back to it. I do believe some of those people did not come forward because of the things we've already discussed. Maybe they felt a little freer to talk to the journalist, where there could be some recognition, and maybe some protection would come out of that.

National Defence committee  I believe with every engagement, every theatre where we place personnel, the chain of command understands the personnel they're deploying. I may defer to my DG of operations here; he is an ex-military member. I'm sure when they're on the ground, consideration is given for that.

National Defence committee  Well, confidentiality is one of the cornerstones of the ombudsman. There's no doubt about it. There's impartiality, neutrality, and confidentiality. Without confidentiality, we would not have a client base. The only way that we can ensure those who approach us.... We talk about revictimization.

National Defence committee  I've spent 15 years or so as a public servant, so I have been exposed to all of that training. I'll speak to the civilian side, and I'll let Alain speak to the Canadian Armed Forces. On the civilian side, there is diversity training, harassment training. That is mandatory, and it's held every year.

National Defence committee  As I said, we stand ready for any role they would bring, and I think that's one we could play. You know, when they talked about the review of workplace policies and procedures, that was a very macro-level statement, but I do believe—

National Defence committee  Yes, understood. But I believe it was focused indirectly on sexual assault inside the military. In terms of the scope of where this is going to be, the terms of reference have not yet been finalized, but I do agree with you that we have to look at not just policy and procedure. We will have to review each case in and of itself to get a collective view of what is actually happening on the ground.

National Defence committee  It was just over three years.

National Defence committee  As I mentioned in my opening comments, the veterans affairs ombudsman and I have started to work together. One of the things I see happening is that things come to an end when your career ends with the Canadian Armed Forces. Then you start another episode when you start with VAC.

National Defence committee  You're right, Canada has a very diverse population, and members from all of those groups make up part of the Canadian Armed Forces. I don't want to pound this to death, but it goes back to education. We have to understand different backgrounds, how people engage, what religion means to people.

National Defence committee  I'm happy to say that the approval has been received. We received official approval to move forward with the investigation yesterday afternoon. Prior to that, my DG and I had already engaged. We started to scope out what that project would look like, how in-depth, and how much detail.