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 when they appeared, they fought; they said it was constitutional, yet if you go back to the decisions, they were unanimous decisions of appeal judges saying that it was unconstitutional.
There was some tinkering here and there on some issues, but the fundamental issues relating to the system have never really been addressed.
There is this independent review, but what do we do here? I was at the Law Reform Commission, so I know how law reform works. We hire someone who has no staff and no knowledge of military law, and he goes to the military and asks, “What do you want me to do?” What do you think happens? What happens is what is happening, as we can see.
If I could just add something, let me say that when I came to the Law Reform Commission, I had exposure to the military justice system, and I wanted to reform the system at the time. However, you will recall that the Progressive Conservative government was in power, and there was an agreement with the provinces to revamp the Criminal Code. All the staff and the budget at the Law Reform Commission were assigned to this reform of the Criminal Code, so we put the issue on the back burner, and then eventually I left and the commission was closed, and so on and on. There has never been a fundamental reform.
I keep on losing time trying to find things in the act. It's all over the place. It's really hard to follow. For example, there is one provision that says that only one sentence “shall” be passed. This creates difficulties when a case comes up on appeal. I was trying to find it; it took me half an hour to find it. I know it exists, but where is it?
It's all mixed up; it's all over the place.