Thank you, Chair.
I have questions for each of you, if time allows. Thank you all for appearing today. It's an important piece of legislation and we appreciate your expertise.
For Monsieur Dugas, you mentioned your view that privates should be allowed to sit on courts martial. You cited precedents and arguments from the civilian system. Obviously that's why we're here today. Developments in the civilian system do influence the military justice system, but the military justice system does have its own particular characteristics.
You will remember that former Chief Justice Lamer asked in his report for the discrepancy in rank in courts martial to be removed or reduced. Our current proposal in this bill would see sergeants sitting on courts martial, not privates, thereby reducing the potential discrepancy in rank quite significantly.
The argument that was put to us as this bill was developed is that it is very much in the spirit of the military justice system, which has to combine rendering justice with attention to discipline, morale, and cohesion within the chain of command within the military as a separate entity with special responsibilities.
Would you not agree, in spite of your own view, that the proposal as contained in Bill C-15 on this front does meet the formal recommendation that Lamer put forward in his report?