Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity for us to appear before you today on this important piece of legislation on behalf of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.
The Criminal Lawyers' Association is an association of criminal law professionals. We're here as part of our mandate, which includes running representations on issues relating to criminal and constitutional law and civil liberties more generally.
We want to be up front about the fact that neither Ms. Weinstein nor I am a practitioner in the military justice system. We're not military law experts. Some members of our association do practise in the area; we do not, but we're here on behalf of our association more generally on issues relating to provisions of Bill C-15 in which there are parallels between the civilian criminal justice system and the military justice system. We're offering our insights into the possible charter and civil liberties implications of those particular provisions of the bill.
I'm going to start by offering a few brief comments on a few of the provisions of this legislation that the CLA is supportive of and that in our view are steps that strengthen the procedural fairness of the act and implement charter values within the act. Following that, Ms. Weinstein is going to add some brief comments on one particular area of the legislation where, in our view, the legislation doesn't go far enough. This is essentially the interaction between the summary trial process and the lack of procedural protections that particular process offers, balanced against the consequences that can arise from that process. This effectively can be consequences identical to what you would see in the civilian justice system, in particular the imposition of a criminal record.
I will start briefly with some of the provisions of this legislation that the CLA is very supportive of.
The first are clauses 24 and 62, which are the two clauses particularly dealing with modernizing the sentencing provisions of the act. Certainly we're quite supportive of those, as they add additional procedural protections into the sentencing regime, in particular the introduction of a number of statements of principles of sentencing that are to be followed in the military justice system. This brings it more in line with the principles we have under the Criminal Code for the civilian system, and we'll likely be able to borrow from some of the case law that's developed in common law and civilian justice to help animate those principles as they're introduced within the military justice system.
As well, there is the notion that what we call aggravating facts, which are more serious facts that are particular to a case and can be used against somebody on sentencing, need to proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That requirement is an important procedural safeguard, because obviously the more serious the facts, the more serious the appropriate sentence. We're in favour of that particular introduction into the sentencing regime.
As well there is the introduction of additional sentencing options, including the absolute discharge, which means there won't be a criminal record imposed in some of the offences that are dealt with at the low end of the spectrum. We think that's an important sentencing option so that, as is the case in the civilian system, the punishment can be more precisely tailored to the circumstances of the offence and the realities of the offender.
The introduction of intermittent sentencing as an option is also important. Certainly the unavailability of an intermittent sentence was an issue that had been highlighted by Chief Justice Lamer, particularly with respect to sentencing of those who were in the reserve forces or of civilians under the act when there could be serious concerns that a jail sentence could be imposed. A jail sentence would have to be served consecutively, and it could cause serious prejudice in terms of possible loss of employment for individuals who were being sentenced in that manner.
I note, however, that in what is being proposed there is a limit of 14 days placed on intermittent sentences. Under the Criminal Code in the civilian system, the limit is 90 days; any sentence of 90 days or less is up to the discretion of the judge in the civilian system to impose intermittently. We would certainly encourage a longer period of sentence be eligible for an intermittent sentence.
In particular, under the summary trial regime a sentence of up to 30 days in prison can be imposed, which is supposedly for a less serious matter. It would be beneficial if that sentence was an option for a judge as a sentence to be served intermittently.
Those were the areas I was going to focus on in terms of the areas we support. Certainly there are many others in our brief.
I'll turn it over to Ms. Weinstein to address the particular area of concern.