Senator Cordy: Thank you, Senator Gold. I know that families with children 12 and younger have had access to dental benefits under the interim Canada Dental Benefit. Have there been lessons learned from the rollout of the interim Canada Dental Benefit that will be applied to the new Canadian Dental Care Plan when it becomes accessible to eligible seniors?

How will the Canadian Dental Care Plan be communicated to eligible Canadians when it finally becomes available because it’s important that seniors know what the program is and whether or not they are eligible?

Senator Cordy: Thank you very much for that. I’m really pleased to hear about the interim steps that are taking place. I have never met Minister Anand, but, based on the things she has done, I have tremendous respect for her and am quite certain she will try to get things done.

The minister previously stated that she was acting on a recommendation from the previous External Review into Sexual Misconduct and Sexual Harassment in the Canadian Armed Forces report from 2015 to allow victims of sexual assault to request, with the support of what was then to be called the center for accountability for sexual assault and harassment — now the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre, SMRC — transfer of the complaint to civilian authorities. According to the Office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal last November, roughly 145 cases of sexual misconduct allegations involving Canadian Armed Forces members could be transferred to civilian police to investigate.

To date, do you know how many cases of these have been tried or brought to civilian court? Are civilian police obligated to investigate cases of sexual misconduct allegations if requested by the Canadian military, or are they able to refuse such cases?