Thank you, Chair, and I thank the witnesses for joining us today.
I'm glad to have a fresh set of eyes look at this legislation, and the fact that you haven't been military lawyers may be of assistance--to me, at least. One of my concerns is to try to ensure that people who serve in our military are not treated less fairly under a system of justice than those in civilian life, because those in the military are not going to be in the military forever. Even the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence, who sits with us, was in the military for a while. He's not now, and many military people leave after a short number of years. Some have a full career there.
I'm very interested in the criminal record, for one. I see the relationship between that, perhaps, and the summary process we have. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the notion that military justice is different because it requires discipline and speed and morale and maintaining the cohesiveness of a fighting force. Some of the elements of a “fair trial” under our charter I don't think you can eliminate. You might have a transcript, but you're not going to stop the commanding officer from being the commanding officer, and you're not going to make them all have law degrees, etc.
One suggestion has been made that in the area of the criminal record you can withstand a system that's less fair in terms of procedural fairness if the consequences to a military person are not as consequential, shall we say. The military can try you for possession of marijuana or offences that would perhaps give you a difficult time in civilian life. In modern times, with CPIC and crossing borders--and God knows what other countries may think of convictions--the criminal record is still there.
By the way, 90% of all offences in the military are tried under the same procedure that you've criticized. Do you see any merit in having some circumstance whereby any summary trial could not lead to a conviction within the meaning of the Criminal Records Act? Clause 75 has a reference to minor punishments, and they're defined, and regulations could change. I'm not even sure what they are right now. Is there any merit in having a blanket prohibition of a criminal records offence if you're using a procedure that might serve the purpose of the military in maintaining discipline and order but does not serve the rights of an accused person for their future?