Mr. Speaker, as my colleague just did, I want to get back to the government's challenge regarding the admissibility of amendments BQ‑2 and BQ‑3, which were moved by the Bloc Québécois—me in this case—in the context of the study of Bill C-11 at the Standing Committee on National Defence. We oppose the government's argument that these amendments should be ruled out of order by the Chair at report stage.
Amendment BQ-2 calls on the government to table in Parliament, within six months of royal assent of Bill C‑11, a plan for the establishment of an office of the inspector general for sexual misconduct. Contrary to the government's assertions, the amendment does not force the government to create such a position or generate any new spending because the amendment does not create any new positions. We believe that, after hearing some of the testimony at the Standing Committee on National Defence, committee members came to realize that Bill C-11 could be improved by asking the government to study the option of creating an office of the inspector general for sexual misconduct.
This amendment was tabled following the testimony of retired colonel Michel Drapeau, who told committee members the following at the November 6, 2025, meeting:
Yes, Canada should appoint an inspector general who can take charge of the situation. This person would listen to victims and would have an open mandate. The person could do whatever seems necessary to investigate. The person would also be mandated to report to various individuals, including members of Parliament, as needed.
A number of countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, have a similar position. As Justice Létourneau recommended during the commission of inquiry into the deployment of Canadian Forces to Somalia, specifically with regard to the Canadian Airborne Regiment in Somalia, I believe that an inspector general position should definitely be created.
If it were up to me, I would implement this today.
All members of the committee voted in favour of this amendment, which is directly in line with the intent of the bill, which is to address sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces. We are of the opinion that this amendment does not go beyond the scope of the bill and does not generate any new spending.
Amendment BQ-3 was adopted based on the Barreau du Québec's specific recommendation regarding Bill C-11, which can be found in the brief it submitted to the Standing Committee on National Defence. The Barreau du Québec based its recommendations to the committee directly on recommendation 1 of the Fish report. Here is what the Barreau said in its brief:
The Barreau du Québec welcomes these amendments, which address certain recommendations of the Fish Report aimed at ensuring the impartiality and independence of military judges in relation to the chain of command:
Recommendation #1: Military judges should cease to be members of the Canadian Armed Forces, and therefore become civilian. Members of the Canadian Armed Forces appointed by the Governor in Council as military judges should, at the time of their appointment, be released from the Canadian Armed Forces and renounce their military rank.
The National Defence Act should be amended to provide that military judges are never subject to the Code of Service Discipline, and may never be charged, dealt with and tried under the Code of Service Discipline for service offences allegedly committed by them while formerly subject to the Code of Service Discipline, if applicable....
However, a key passage of the first recommendation of the Fish Report is missing from the bill, namely that military judges cease to be members of the CAF upon appointment....
Therefore, the Barreau du Québec recommends that military judges cease to be members of the CAF at the time of their appointment in order to maintain their institutional independence from the executive and to avoid creating a reasonable apprehension of bias.
In addition, here is what the current Minister of National Defence said in the House of Commons at second reading of the bill:
Second, Bill C-11 would act on eight key recommendations outlined by former Supreme Court justice Fish in his third independent review.
Prior to the amendment, however, contrary to the minister's statements and as shown by the Barreau du Québec, Bill C-11 was missing an important component of the Fish report's recommendation 1. The Bloc Québécois, like all parliamentarians, voted in favour of the bill in principle at second reading without knowing all of the details of the bill, because we thought we were going to study it more exhaustively in committee.
Both officials and the government have presented the bill as being faithful to the recommendations of other reports, including the Fish report. The Bloc Québécois believes that parliamentarians did not have all the details of the bill before it was studied in committee and that, as a result, they had to rely on the statements made by both the minister and officials during the vote at second reading. Amendment BQ‑3 improves the bill by bringing it more in line with Justice Fish's recommendation 1 and the intent of the bill, which was to implement the remaining legislation flowing from the recommendations in reports like the Fish report.
Lastly, the recommendation to expand the pool of veteran candidates comes from the brief submitted by Afton Brooke David, senior legal advisor for the study of Bill C-11. Here is what she said in her brief: That said, I would suggest taking it one step further and including current and former members of the CAF with at least 10 years’ service. An argument could be made that this is a matter of interpretation of the existing proposed language; I nevertheless suggest this subtle change could explicitly expand the talent pool and solicit candidates with well-rounded legal experience in and out of the CAF.
The broadened eligibility pool is perhaps implied, as military judges appointed under amendment BQ‑3 are considered to be released from the CAF. However, amendment BQ‑3 clarifies eligibility to avoid any confusion.
For all these reasons, we believe that the Chair should rule the amendments in order.