Mr. Speaker, I am happy to speak to this bill today. The government has decided to address the issue of justice in the Canadian forces and we believe it is about time.
Addressing the issue of justice in the military is both important and urgent. My party understands that if we are to do something, we might as well do it right. Unfortunately, while there are some interesting points in the bill, it does not address the real problems faced by the Canadian forces today.
There are several questions which we must ask ourselves. What events brought us to the point to have this bill read in Canada's House of Commons? Did the government act in an appropriate way and does the bill address the need for change? If passed, will the bill work in a practical way when it is applied?
While all these questions are connected, it would serve us well to take the time to ensure that they are answered to the satisfaction of Canadians.
The first question is perhaps the most important. The key for this bill is what events brought us to this point.
I believe all members of the House are aware of the events which transpired as a result of other events in Somalia. However, they are worth repeating and repeating.
The Somalia inquiry was shut down for political and personal reasons last year. That brings us here today. Inquiry commissions are created because there is a public concern which needs to be addressed. As elected officials of this House it is incumbent on all of us to take such matters very seriously. It seems to me that if there is a good enough reason to begin an inquiry, then there is a good reason to complete it.
I would like to quickly outline what was the cost, in real terms, of prematurely shutting down the Somalia commission.
Robert Fowler, then deputy minister of national defence, now Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, said that on March 19, 1993 he told defence minister Kim Campbell's acting chief of staff, Richard Claire, that Somalia teenager Shidane Arone had died three days earlier as a result of foul play at the hands of Canadians.
Richard Claire, then acting chief of staff to minister of defence Kim Campbell, said he did discuss the death with Fowler and Vice-Admiral Larry Murray, then vice-chief of defence staff on March 19, but nobody mentioned foul play. He said at that time the death was still a mystery to him.
The Right Hon. Kim Campbell, then minister of defence, said that she was aware that there was an investigation going on from March 17. She knew this because she received a briefing note on that day. In that briefing note the death of the Somali was listed as perplexing and that Canadian forces had acted appropriately.
The Right Hon. Kim Campbell also knew from the same briefing book that Corporal Marchi had tried to kill himself because “he had roughed him up”, meaning Shidane Arone, “the truth was that he beat him to death”. It was not until March 30, 11 days later, that Kim Campbell learned that there was an investigation into the death.
Because the Somali inquiry was cut short, this has never been resolved. The result is that Canada's fine military has been dragged through the mud and still there is no resolution. The result is that Canadians have less faith in their public servants as Robert Fowler remains Canada's ambassador to the United Nations and Larry Murray has just been appointed assistant deputy minister in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and still there is no resolution.
The result is that Canadians do not know the true story and still there is no resolution. That is why we are here today. We are not here because the government all of a sudden cares about justice in the military but because the government made a mistake and it knows it made a mistake and now it wants to hide that mistake as best as possible.
That brings me to the second point that I outlined earlier. Did the government act in an appropriate way and does the bill address the need for change? I would like to refer to the words of one of Canada's most respected sons, Chief Justice Brian Dickson. In a speech given in November, 1997 Chief Justice Dickson said: “Something is drastically wrong when the public feels that its military is incompetent and led by an inept if not corrupt hierarchy”.
I do not bring up Chief Justice Dickson for no reason. In fact, Chief Justice Dickson is an important player in the making of the bill because much of what is in the bill stems from the recommendations made to the minister of defence in March, 1997 by a special advisory group chaired by Chief Justice Dickson. It is worth repeating the words of Chief Justice Dickson: “Something is drastically wrong when the public feels that its military is incompetent and led by an inept if not corrupt hierarchy”.
My party agrees with Chief Justice Dickson. There is something drastically wrong. Does the bill address the need for change? I just told the House I disagree with the way the bill arrived here. However, there is much in the bill that my party agrees with. The problem, however, is that when one tries to cover up something rather than address the real issues, as this government so often does, the result is very often inadequate.
Similarly, because the government is introducing the bill for the wrong reasons, it does not go far enough in addressing the real problems. Indeed the government missed an excellent opportunity to instil new confidence in the military. The government could have taken measures that would have truly made a difference, measures the Canadian public could point to and say “my government listened and I now have faith in the way the military operates”. The government did not listen. Instead it shut down an inquiry and stifled debate and now the Canadian public will feel cheated, and justifiably so.
The government feels proud when it says that it is fulfilling 80% of the recommendations of the Somalia inquiry. I want to make two points about this not so great accomplishment. First, the Somalia inquiry was cut short and so we do not know what the full recommendations would have been. Second, while the government thinks 80% is something to brag about, my party's answer to that is quality is far more important than mere quantity.
The Somalia inquiry commissioners recommended that the judge advocate general be a civilian. The government ignored this recommendation. The Somalia inquiry commissioners recommended that the office of the inspector general be created. The government ignored that recommendation as well.
My party proposed in our election platform last year and we maintain today that creating the office of an inspector general would be the best way to make the military both accountable and increase transparency to give the public more confidence in its armed forces.
We proposed in our platform let the future begin: “Establishing an inspector general for the armed forces to act as an ombudsman to address concerns which cannot be dealt with in a routine chain of command”.
In the government's response to the Somalia inquiry, a document that for one reason or another my party has not yet figured out, called “A Commitment to Change” the government turns down the proposed inspector general. In “A Commitment to Change” the government states that the commissioners themselves are confused and that introducing an inspector general of the kind that they envisioned would demand the very sort of counter-expert body the commissioners consider inappropriate in chapter 44 of the Somalia report.
My party has looked very closely at chapter 44 of the Somalia report and found one thing has nothing to do with the other. Chapter 44 is entitled “The Need for a Vigilant Parliament”. The chapter does not speak about the office of the inspector general but rather how to better inform Canadian parliamentarians.
In chapter 16 of “A Commitment to Change” the government misleads Canadians into believing the Somalia commissioners asked for an inspector general and then said in chapter 44 an inspector general was not needed. That is not the case, and the minister and the government know this very well.
If that was not clear enough, my colleague for Compton—Stanstead put forward a motion on November 29, 1997 at the defence and veterans affairs committee because he knew it was very important to clarify this precise issue.
I would like to read the motion that my colleague presented at that time: “That the committee invite the three Somalia commissioners to appear before this committee to speak on chapter 44 of the Somalia report, `The Need for a Vigilant Parliament”'.
I am sad to say this motion for the need for a vigilant Parliament was turned down. This is shameful behaviour on the part of this government. It ends an inquiry and misleads Canadians in its response to the inquiry. When the defence committee wants to have things clarified, as is its right, the motion is turned down.
This government does not want a vigilant Parliament because if Parliament were too vigilant this government might not get away with all its schemes. Is this why 80% of the recommendations of the Somalia inquiry do not include the recommendation for a detailed annual report to Parliament? Instead of listening to the recommendations made by the Somalia commissioners this government chose to follow the advice given by the Dickson special advisory group. What my party cannot accept is the way this government picks and chooses what recommendations to follow.
The government might want an example and this might surprise it. Recommendation 35 of the Dickson report, which has not made its way into this bill, calls for “an independent office of complaint review and system oversight such as a military ombudsman be established within the Canadian forces and that it report directly to the Minister of National Defence”.
The Somalia commissioners call it an inspector general. The Dickson report calls it an ombudsman. My party calls it an inspector general to act as an ombudsman. And still this government does not act. In the words of the Minister of Defence, the military does not need someone looking over its shoulder.
Why is this minister convinced that the Department of National Defence does not need an independent inspector general when experts who have studied for months and made recommendations to his department tell him he does need an inspector general?
Before I move on to my final points I want to tell this House about another recommendation made by the Somalia commissioners that did not make it into the government's 80%: “That the National Defence Act be amended to provide clearly that any individual in the Canadian forces or any civilian can lay a complaint with the military police without fear of reprisal and without having first to raise the complaint with the chain of command”.
This recommendation does not appear in the bill before us today because in “A Commitment to Change” it is written plainly this recommendation is not accepted.
If passed, will this bill work in a practical way? My party will ensure during the committee stage of this bill that we invite witnesses who can enlighten the committee. I hope the government does not interfere with this process.
It is my understanding that my colleague from Compton—Stanstead will put forward motions to invite the Somalia commissioners. They are experts and they have something to add to this bill. He will also want to hear from those who worked closely on the Dickson special advisory group. But that is not all. It will be important to hear from the Americans, the British, the French and other like-minded nations on the operation and success of their military justice systems. It will also be important to hear from the stakeholders, namely members of the Canadian forces.
This bill addresses the issue of military summary trials, that is, trials run by military officers with no legal training.
When being briefed by the Department of National Defence on this bill, my party asked what sort of training company commanders were given. The answer that there was no formal training astounded us. Although Chief Justice Dickson recommends a certification process that allows officers to hold summary trials, the issue is not addressed in this bill.
Through my colleague, my party will argue that this bill should go further to create real change. We want the public to know the military serves them and not itself. I hope the government takes my party's suggestions seriously.