Mr. Speaker, one measure we can take to strengthen the complaints commission process is to protect complainants from being penalized for submitting a complaint in good faith. This is known colloquially as whistleblower protection. It is something that the government and provincial governments across this country have been slow to embrace. It is the practice of making sure that people who see wrongdoing feel free to come forward and make those complaints, of course in good faith, so that they do not risk career retribution or other forms of punishment for doing so.
It is particularly difficult for people in government agencies and very tight-knit organizations such as police forces or the Canadian Forces to actually feel free to come forward and report wrongdoing when they see it, because there can be such serious ramifications to their own careers. This is particularly the case when one's commanding officer may be the judge who is hearing the complaint against him or her.
We need to reform the system to bring it more in line with the norms of civilian justice and make sure that all people in this country have access to charter and constitutional rights.