Mr. Chair, I move that Bill C-77, in clause 25, be amended by adding after line 29 on page 22 the following:
163.21 (1) A summary hearing may not be conducted unless the superior commander, commanding officer or delegated officer has taken the necessary measures to ensure that a recording or a transcript of the summary hearing is made and that any document or information relating to the hearing and ail exhibits filed with it are preserved. (2) The superior commander, commanding officer or delegated officer shall give reasons for his or her finding."
What we have here is even though these summary hearings are supposed to be administrative in nature and hopefully not penal, we do know that currently certain service infractions show up as criminal records down the road for our service members.
If we're not going to provide proceedings of those hearings or the rulings, how does that individual, when they release from the Canadian Armed Forces, who then goes out and applies for a job.... All of us get criminal record background checks now. That record is going to show that the individual had a criminal record while serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. In civilian life, offences like drunkenness would most likely not be a Criminal Code violation and insubordination would not be a Criminal Code violation, but they would show up on the criminal record.
To expunge that criminal record, they would need to have evidence of what the rulings were and if we're not taking any proceedings at the summary hearings or providing written findings by the COs they would have a big problem down the road as they transition to civilian life.
Without the opportunity to appeal—maybe it doesn't matter—but if we provide an appeal process, those findings are required to provide information to the higher delegated officer or a court martial.