I think there's been testimony that supports Mr. Harris's position. I will quote from Colonel Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel from the Canadian Forces, who was before the defence committee on February 28, 2011. He said that he strongly believed that the issue of summary trials must be addressed because there was currently nothing more important—nothing more important—than for Parliament to focus on fixing a broken system “that affects the legal rights of a significant number of Canadian citizens every year. Why? Because unless and until you, the legislators, address this issue, it is almost impossible for the court to address any challenge, since no appeal of a summary trial verdict or sentence is permitted. As well, it is almost impossible for any other form of legal challenge to take place, since there are no trial transcripts and no right to counsel at summary trial.”
On the face of it, I think it's fairly clear, and I don't think anybody here is going to disagree, that if you have a summary conviction, the appeal possibilities are significantly reduced. There's no transcript; there's no trial record. This is a significantly different process, and the weight of the consequence of that process has to be consequent. The proposal that we have before us right now would, I think, lead to a much more balanced approach to summary conviction.
It does not make sense to me that somebody who is risking their lives to defend the Canadian state would be subject to so significantly fewer constitutional rights than any other Canadian citizen. The person who would be facing the summary trial has made grave sacrifices and should benefit from what we're proposing here, seeing as it has been proposed by a number of experts. It has been supported even by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has said that when it comes to summary conviction we have to be very careful about the procedural protections that are going to be afforded to them.
I don't agree that the bill before us goes far enough. I think it really would benefit from this particular amendment.