National Defence committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for inviting me to answer your questions concerning the report I submitted to the Minister of National Defence last May dealing with sexual misconduct and leadership in the Canadian Armed Forces. I stress t

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm very grateful for this additional opportunity. In fact, this is very much in response to a document that was provided to me just yesterday—a very short time ago—and I hope that these additional brief remarks will address some concerns that you and the m

National Defence committee  First of all, as I mentioned in my report, I think the credit for the progress that will take place—eventually and slowly—on these and related issues in the Canadian Armed Forces goes, largely, to the victims and survivors who have come forward. Frankly, if there's a lesson in a

National Defence committee  I'm sorry. When the minister was preparing her response to my report...?

National Defence committee  During my examination, my review, I made extensive requests for documentation. I received some 4,000 documents. I received both testimonials and comments by people who reached out to me, and I of course reached out. During the course of my review, I spoke to the CDS, the VCDS and

National Defence committee  Yes. Thank you. I have all the figures inside my report in terms of the number of investigations and prosecutions—and I'll distinguish between these—that the various provinces can expect if they take on, if they actually exercise, a jurisdiction they already have to prosecute se

National Defence committee  Thank you for giving me an opportunity to clarify that. Currently, as the law exists, without any change being needed, both the military justice system and the civilian courts have equal competence over these issues. Therefore, all that needs to happen today is that the military

National Defence committee  I cannot impute any intention to the minister or to anybody else. The reality is that on each one of the recommendations where the response is that they will be implemented, the method of implementation is the business as usual of sending it back to another review, another commit

National Defence committee  Yes. With military colleges, I think the one thing that's really important to remember is that not all the officer cadets and naval cadets are trained in military colleges. In fact, probably half of them are educated in civilian universities and receive their military training an

National Defence committee  Thank you for that question. It is very important to distinguish between transferring existing cases that are at the investigation or prosecution stage and initiating new investigations or prosecutions, whether for offences committed in the present or for offences committed a lo

National Defence committee  First, the burden of proof is exactly the same in the military courts: that is, the facts must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In fact, some studies have shown that there were more convictions, in general, in civilian courts than in courts martial. The difference is not enor

National Defence committee  Yes, I believe in my report I recommended that the external monitor.... Now I forget if I put a time frame, but I certainly recommended that there be periodic public reports by the external monitor. I am extremely concerned, as I mentioned before, about how long it seems to take

National Defence committee  I'm talking about two things. I'm talking about cases for which complaints have already been made to the military police and to the provost marshal. They're cases that are currently being investigated. If it's early enough, that should stop and they should be transferred to the c

National Defence committee  To be very candid, I find that argument a little disingenuous, particularly when it comes from provincial police forces that can expect no more than a handful of cases every year, if that. If they don't have an army, air force or navy base in their jurisdiction, they're not likel

National Defence committee  I'm afraid I don't have the exact provisions at my fingertips but, essentially, there may not even be any need to amend the Criminal Code. I'm just not sure right now. The jurisdiction has to be taken away, probably just in the National Defence Act. The provisions have to come