Part of the concern is that members can use retirement to escape justice. I believe there was a case in CFB Halifax where an officer was placed under harassment investigation, resigned from the military and started work as a civilian the next day, at which point the military threw up its hands and said, “Well, I guess the matter is closed. The member is released.” Having access to information that allows us to dig into the files of people who have retired means we're not in a situation where important decisions are made, members are able to release from the forces and their emails or other documents are destroyed.
I was very surprised that the system relies on an honour system. If I come up with a list of five names and, in the process of filing a request, they go to those five people and one has retired, they will throw up their hands and say, “Well, the member is retired. We can't get their records.” Are you telling me that the day after they retire, we have no backups and have nothing saved, and no one is able to say, “Hang on. The IT team didn't actually delete their records. That's scheduled for next week”?
If there are records worth preserving, an obligation of members before they're released should be to ensure that they are properly preserved, or we need appropriate backup systems in this case. In my mind, when I say that, I mean there could be emails, drafts and correspondence, because honestly you can rely on what's on the page, but the real decisions are probably hidden in emails or correspondence.