One of the problems we have not discussed here at all is that, in addition to the problem of sexual misconduct, parallel to it, we have a significant breakdown in the military justice system. The court martial system simply doesn't work. Three of the four military judges have self-declared not to be independent, which is a crucial element for anybody acting in a judicial function, so they don't.... I've seen it. I've represented a number of victims of sexual assault. I can relate a case that perhaps make the points clearer.
She was a victim of a sexual assault by one of her colleagues at the military college. In accordance with the Canadian Forces tradition, a court martial takes place within the unit lines of the accused. If you are a victim—in this case, a cadet from the military college—and you lay a complaint against one of your fellow cadets, the court martial would take place in open court at the military college. Guess who the audience is going to be. It's going to be 60 to 70 to 80 cadets. She will be sitting in the witness chair for four or five days going into intimate details as to how she was dressed, where he put his hand, how she responded and so on and so forth, looking at 60 pairs of eyeballs of her colleagues—first-, second- and third-year cadets—who she will be living and serving with for the rest of her career. If she does this, this particular lady who's in the forces will never go through that again.
I've represented another person who had been assaulted in a unit in western Canada. The court martial took place within the unit line, which was within the canteen. All of her former subordinates—all of the non-commissioned officers and so on—were there. She was a health professional. She testified for three days. She didn't know where to look.
This is a military justice system where, in fact, justice is about to be made with a conviction system that is far below what we have in civilian court. The system doesn't work.
That's why, among other things, we need to take sexual assault out of the military. The military are trained to conduct warfare. They're managers of violence. That's what their trade is. They're not there to settle sexual assaults, to investigate sexual assault and to pursue it.
To ensure the safety, dignity and integrity of our women soldiers—I married one of them—we want to make sure that, in fact, they have a place where they can report the crime and the crime can be investigated fully by an independent police force that is trained and experienced in doing so in a court of law that does this on an ongoing basis. This is not taking place. Until this changes, victims will not have confidence in the military justice system. They won't report the crime and the problem will continue.
