National Defence committee  Mr. Chair and members, my name is Jim Price. As the chair has indicated, I am the acting chair of the Canadian Forces Grievance Board. With me is Caroline Maynard, our director of legal services. To give my own background, I retired in 2003 from the Canadian Forces after 37 yea

National Defence committee  I don't know, sir. That's the short answer.

National Defence committee  No. The point I was trying to make is that of the grievances that reach a final authority--and historically about 300 a year reach the final authority--the regulations that give us jurisdiction over subject matter are such that we only see 40%. We see the ones having to do with i

National Defence committee  Ms. Diane Laurin was the chair of the Canadian Forces Grievance Board until February 25, when her term expired. The government has not appointed a new chair in the meantime, so I've been acting since that time.

National Defence committee  What has to be done, I guess, is for the department and the minister to agree that this is a good thing. We have had discussions with the vice-chief over the last number of months, and those discussions will probably resume shortly, I'm hoping.

National Defence committee  Yes, the magic words are “deputy head” in financial authority from the Treasury Board, and the chief is not considered a deputy head. I am told the Commissioner of the RCMP is considered a deputy head and does have financial power. But the chief has no financial power in terms of

National Defence committee  I'm not getting the translation.

National Defence committee  That was discussed. In fact, I was a legal officer working on Bill C-25 in 1998. The decision of the government at that time was to have a recommending board as opposed to a decision-making board. This board was based on the RCMP external review committee. It serves virtually t

National Defence committee  That's a completely legitimate point of view. Senior military officers would probably tell you that the grievance business is integral to esprit de corps, to the functioning of the military, and it belongs with the chain of command.

National Defence committee  We haven't discussed it, and I know it's being discussed at National Defence. He needs the authority to bring resolution to grievances that he sees. He doesn't need broad authority. I don't know what's been talked about, but certainly with the kinds of things we see, we find it f

National Defence committee  I'll ask Ms. Maynard to respond to that.

National Defence committee  The reasons for release and retirement are in the statute. The reason for release is determined by the personnel administration people. They have a choice in some cases. A medical release is possible, and so is a misconduct type of release. I was alluding to the rigidity on thi

National Defence committee  Yes, sir, I see that in grievances. I was looking at a grievance this afternoon, in fact, where the member was saying that he hadn't come forward when he should have because he believed acknowledging he had an issue would be a “career stopper”. So you do see that, yes.

National Defence committee  I'm not sure. One would hope that what the department has embarked upon--the kinds of things that Mr. Stogran described, and the education program that I know is ongoing--would ameliorate this, but I see the same type of thing when I go on visits to bases. From time to time, comm

National Defence committee  Certainly speaking from my perspective at the grievance board, I know the Canadian Forces are working very, very hard on alternate dispute resolution, finding ways of sorting issues out before they reach our board or even the grievance system. I saw a grievance a few years ago