Thank you, Mr. Hawn, for that question.
Through the chair, absolutely. Once again, I can't emphasize enough the heart of military justice, which is the maintenance of discipline that keeps the CF running. You need a system that is fair but also efficient, and I'll use the term “quick”, but people don't want to misconstrue that to mean that rights are being trampled upon in any way, shape, or form. I know you don't mean that, Mr. Hawn, but people do get that impression sometimes.
You need a system that is quick, not only in terms of activities in Canada. We're a big force spread across the country, and we have a very mobile force. A lot of it is engaged in training activities. For instance, you can have people going to Gagetown in the summer or to Petawawa in the summer to do training for a matter of weeks, and if a breach of discipline occurs there, you want to be able to deal with it while the individual is still on the ground, for the individual's sake and also so the rest of the unit can see that justice is being done.
Similarly, it has to be portable and transportable, so that you can take it around the world, because our code of discipline follows our troops anywhere in the world. You need a system that will be efficient and quick so that, as you indicate, folks get their day. They get their say and then a decision is made, but at the end of the day, it's not designed to tie individuals up because we ultimately need them to do the support, the trades, and also, ultimately, the fighting in that regard.
You can't lose sight of the fairness piece in any of that. You don't want to overlook it just for the sole goal of being quick and efficient, but you find, as we said throughout this—we sound like broken records to some degree—that you are struggling to find that right balance. If you make it too much heavy on rights and bog it down with process and procedures, you'll never have many of the troops out available to do training and conducting operations.