National Defence Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2018

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

I think that's very helpful to the committee. Thank you for that.

Commodore, you mentioned the sexual misconduct resource centre in an exchange with, I believe, my colleague Monsieur Robillard. For the benefit of the committee, could you elaborate on what that unit is all about, how it's structured and how it operates?

[Cmdre Geneviève Bernatchez]

I would feel a lot more comfortable if you were to have Dr. Preston testify before committee. She explains it so much better than I do.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

We will take note of that. Maybe there will be a chance to circle back to her. Thank you.

Finally, Mr. Chair, I wanted to ask a question on the importance of restitution under the current military justice system and as it's transformed by Bill C-77. When does restitution come into play, how significant is it to a victim to be able to ask for restitution, and under what circumstances would restitution even be a factor?

[Col Stephen Strickey]

With Bill C-77, as the JAG alluded to earlier in her testimony, certainly one of the rights that will be given in the declaration of victims rights is restitution, in which the court will and must consider a restitution order and as well have that restitution ordered as a civil court judgment if not paid. Certainly it is one of the four primary rights given in the declaration of victims rights, which mirrors, of course, the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights in the civilian system. It certainly emphasizes the points that these quasi-constitutional rights are important to victims.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Do we have some numbers on past incidents? Is it correct, first of all, to assume that under the previous system there was no ability to ask for restitution?

[Col Stephen Strickey]

Not at all, and I'll pass that along to my colleague Lieutenant-Colonel Lortie.

[Lieutenant-Colonel Geneviève Lortie, Director of Law, Military Justice, Policy, Department of National Defence]

Thank you.

I want to highlight that this right is already in force in the National Defence Act. It's something that was brought into force on September 1, 2018, as part of the Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act, which was known before as Bill C-15. Bill C-77 is adding provisions to that. It's giving more bones to it, but the right is already there in the act and can be used by courts martial.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Would you be able to provide to the committee the number of restitution orders generated by the military justice system over the last three years, let's say, to give the committee an appreciation of how significant a mechanism this is?

[Col Stephen Strickey]

Yes, absolutely.

[Sven Spengemann, Liberal, Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, that's all I have. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

I'd to thank all three of you for appearing today on this very important matter of Bill C-77.

To summarize, I believe there was an undertaking from you to provide the committee with some information under section 98 and then the information on the number of restitution orders, as cited by my colleague. We would appreciate that in a timely fashion, as this is our highest priority and we are aiming to get this back no later than the 30th of November. Of course, we will need time to see this information, so time is of the essence.

I would like to thank the three of you for your service to Canada.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Go ahead, Mr. Garrison.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

I believe that in another meeting we discussed that the committee may finish its deliberations on evidence by November 22. Perhaps we'd like to advise the witnesses that this is our timetable to allow us time to deal with the bill.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

That's fair enough. More specifically, it's the 22nd, and as soon as possible would be greatly appreciated so that we can consider it and work on any recommendations we may have for the Government of Canada.

The meeting is adjourned.