Mr. Speaker, Private Brocklebank was informed, as was his counsel, on April 7 that two charges were to be laid under the National Defence Act for conduct unbecoming a member of the Canadian military.
Those charges were held in abeyance pending a legal review of the case to see whether or not proceeding with that disciplinary action would prejudice the commission.
The legal opinion was that proceeding with this would not prejudice the commission. As a result, the charge was allowed to go on in conformity with the normal practices of the National Defence Act and the nature of this particular offence, which in no way related directly to the criminal charges and others related to the death of Mr. Arone.
Therefore, this particular matter was allowed to proceed and a summary hearing was heard. This was all in accordance with normal practices. It is not anyone's intention to go behind anyone's back. We did this in the normal way.