Status of Women committee  Is that question for me or for General Atherton?

Status of Women committee  You are absolutely correct that the two Statistics Canada surveys that have been done absolutely identify that members of the groups you've identified experience sexual misconduct at higher rates than other groups. You're absolutely correct that men are also victims of sexual mis

Status of Women committee  As I mentioned, the mandate has three broad lines of effort. The first and most important is to provide a range of support services for members who are affected by sexual misconduct. The second is to provide a range of policy advice: advice on the content of prevention programs

Status of Women committee  Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today. My name is Dr. Denise Preston, and I'm a forensic and clinical psychologist with over 30 years of experience dealing with harmful and criminal behaviour. I've been t

National Defence committee  Madam Chair, culture change is a very broad concept. At a very broad level, it implies a change in attitudes, values and beliefs of individual members. It also, to bring it down to an individual level, involves changes in behaviour in terms of how people treat each other at the i

National Defence committee  I think about the independence of SMRC on at least a weekly basis, and I have done since I started at the centre, because it is very complicated. We have been set up structurally, in terms of my reporting relationship, consistent with what Madame Deschamps recommended, but we hav

National Defence committee  Yes. Thank you. As I mentioned earlier, there are a range of supports that are available to members, either through health services or through the sexual misconduct response centre. Members can also be referred to specialists in the community. The other service that is available

National Defence committee  What I would say is that, for any survivor, whether they're a survivor in the military or outside of the military, it's a very difficult decision to come forward. In fact, outside the military, in the civilian world, only about 5% of sexual assaults are actually officially report

National Defence committee  With respect to the first question, peer support is not currently offered. However, there is work under way to get an online peer support platform established. As well, we have produced a joint proposal with VAC to develop both an online and in-person support program for members

National Defence committee  A range of supports are offered to members who suffer from military sexual trauma. One large service provider would be Canadian Forces health services. They have a range of mental health professionals who would provide whatever sort of supports a person might need within their ow

Status of Women committee  Just to make sure, because I missed part of what you said, was the question about what services have been put in place since 2019 to better support members? The first thing is that in August 2019, we added the response and support coordination program, which is the program the m

National Defence committee  I'll end up reiterating some of what Madam Deschamps said, but it is true that the safest place for a Canadian Armed Forces member to talk about what has happened to them is to come to the sexual misconduct response centre. I say that for two reasons. One is we are independent of

National Defence committee  I think a number of things need to be prioritized and certainly have been on our work plan for a period of time. We want to look at reporting in terms of implementing alternatives to reporting that are outside of the chain of command. Another source of support that has been raise

National Defence committee  I'll address your first question, which is about the lack of power of the centre. It is true that the centre I run does not have accountability over CAF. We have no authority over CAF. At best, what is in our mandate is that we are to monitor CAF's efforts to implement Operatio

National Defence committee  Thank you very much for the question. In practice, the way it happens is very similar to what Madam Deschamps has explained. The centre is a confidential place for people to come and lay allegations, make complaints and discuss their experiences. Our counsellors will provide w