National Defence committee  The only legislative changes in terms, for example, of the constitutionality of the courts came as a result of the judicial decisions. Although, as mentioned earlier, we announced that we had serious doubts about the constitutionality of these provisions, nothing was done. Even w

National Defence committee  Thank you. I'm willing to acknowledge that there are substantial reforms proposed in this bill, which I accept. To show you how it's sometimes hard to understand why they stop at that, for example, if you take the civilian court, the judge who gets an offender in front of him ca

National Defence committee  You must bear in mind that Chief Justice Dickson's and Chief Justice Lamer's opinions go back quite a number of years. Since then, the law has evolved tremendously in the Supreme Court of Canada itself, where they have strengthened the independence of the courts and the need for

National Defence committee  You want a closing comment?

National Defence committee  Okay. At present in Canada a soldier is a soldier before being a Canadian citizen. Why? By prosecuting him before a court martial, the military justice system deprives the soldier of his fundamental and precious right to a jury trial. When he appears before a summary trial, he i

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am proud and honoured to share my knowledge in Canadian military justice with this committee in the context of Bill C-15. Let me open, Mr. Chair, by noting that I have already provided the clerk of the committee with five copi