I understand, Madam Speaker.
The Liberal government continues to deny the facts. When other employees were summoned by the House, the Liberals chose instead to send the Minister of National Defence and said that they would prevent their employees from testifying.
Members should recall that the Conservatives had already caught wind of allegations against General Vance. However, they still appointed him as chief of the defence staff even though the Canadian Armed Forces had just been roundly criticized for their management of sexual misconduct cases and pervasive sexist culture.
In another report by the Standing Committee on the Status of Women dealing with women living in rural communities, we saw that the recommendation to apply GBA+ was already in the mandate letter of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality. However, not enough attention was given to the needs of women, especially those with special needs in rural, remote and northern communities.
The recommendation is not clear on whether there should be a comparative or feminist analysis or one based on the differences with respect to urban areas. In short, it is not clear whether this analysis can truly help fight the culture of toxic masculinity in the various federal institutions in our regions.
To conclude, given that it is now 2021, it is unacceptable that too many women and gender-diverse people continue to be victims of violence. Too many reports have been shelved for too long by different federal departments and agencies. To be able to take action and restore women's trust, and to reduce cases of assault, we must take action and that will take more than just applying GBA+ analysis.