National Defence committee  That's fair.

National Defence committee  Mm-hmm.

National Defence committee  I'll have to repeat the same answer. Sorry. I took the investigation as far as I could with the complainant's authority.

National Defence committee  No. When I met with the complainant, the first thing they demanded was an assurance of confidentiality, which I granted to the person. When I met with them and had the conversation, it was very apparent to me that this victim was looking for some protection, so I did not share the allegations or the evidence with anyone else in the office.

National Defence committee  No, I did not.

National Defence committee  It is not at all. As I've said, the ombudsman's office was created to handle exactly this, and sexual assault and sexual harassment and are two different things, though in the same vein. Sexual harassment was handled by our office—we found many ways to deal with sexual harassment.

National Defence committee  The minister holds many powers under the National Defence Act and has levers he can pull far, far above my pay grade. I went to the minister, as his direct report, looking for advice and guidance on what to do next. I felt that this was a very major issue. When we're talking about the chief of the defence staff, who other than the minister should I speak to?

National Defence committee  No, I did not take the complaint to anyone other than the minister because of the confidentiality that I promised that complainant.

National Defence committee  I didn't get the first part of your question. I'm sorry. As for—

National Defence committee  Yes, and that depends on the type of complaint you get. You may get a formal complaint—someone will come to you with an allegation of something and they will present their evidence. That would cause an investigation process to commence. Then again, people may come to you with an informal complaint.

National Defence committee  I'll go with “all of the above”. It's funny. If you look back at the cyclical approach of things that have happened—my appearances, the release of a report, a media interview—things would stop, they would start, they would become one thing and something else would happen. Is it all anomalies?

National Defence committee  I don't know if it was an attempt at a cover-up, but I know it was a full-court press to get rid of me.

National Defence committee  I don't have an opinion on that one way or the other. The only thing I ever wanted the minister to do was his job.

National Defence committee  Again, anything that has come to my office, I hold in confidence. I will not release the names of any individuals or any types of complaints that have come to this office.

National Defence committee  One moment, please. No.