National Defence committee  That's a very good question. For committee members who know from my previous appearances, I talked about the office of the JAG and that we deploy legal advisers with all major Canadian Forces operations. This one is no different. We have a legal officer with the air component co

National Defence committee  Absolutely, that's the critical part, making sure that we are able to operationalize the law. We take what some may call legal mumbo-jumbo and we make it understandable for operators.

National Defence committee  We've done it everywhere. We've done it in Kosovo, in previous missions, everywhere we go, our land forces, maritime forces, or air forces.

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Normally, I never say never; lawyers are never that definitive. But it's the usual practice of most states and allied states in NATO not to publicly disclose the ROEs, rules of engagement, or certainly details of the ROE. They may comment generally, as we d

National Defence committee  Thank you for the question. It really is an excellent one and quite a logical one to ask within this discussion. As with most aspects, there are policy holders within the CF and DND. In this case there are two main policy holders. One is military justice, which I oversee because

National Defence committee  Thanks. That's another very good question. Yet again this underlines the uniqueness of military justice. As you're aware, our current judges.... We have four military judges who are appointed for tenure, or hopefully will be with the passing of this; right now they're appointed

National Defence committee  That's another great question. As many of the committee members know, the role is not currently outlined. Oddly, if you go to the section dealing with the Military Police Complaints Commission in the National Defence Act, it's really all about the provost marshal, how he and his

National Defence committee  Yes, we've obviously heard that expressed by some in the public, some commentators. I think it's a bit of a misunderstanding. I don't want to speak for the commentators--they can defend themselves--but my perception is that they were perhaps equating it with kind of a jury, that

National Defence committee  Thank you, Ms. Gallant. I don't want to go through all 88--one minute per each--but essentially the nature of the recommendations was such that some did require statutory changes. Those are the ones we're trying to deal with now through Bill C-41. Others were handled by other

National Defence committee  Correct. My colleague was just reminding me that we have implemented 28 of the recommendations through means other than legislation. Some were tweaked in legislation, when you had the opportunity with Bill C-60, for instance, but the bulk of them were done through policy and re

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Hawn, for that question. Through the chair, absolutely. Once again, I can't emphasize enough the heart of military justice, which is the maintenance of discipline that keeps the CF running. You need a system that is fair but also efficient, and I'll use the term “

National Defence committee  Yes. Starting from the fundamentals, first principles, that those trained to be presiding officers at summary trial are not judges, they are not lawyers, and the system is not designed to make them such, we have to be somewhat reasonable in making comparisons between folks who a

National Defence committee  No, it's not public because it gives the discretion to the provost marshal. Again, it's in a case where the provost marshal would feel that going public would hinder the investigation. Actually, it is another variation on his perception that his investigation may be interfered wi

National Defence committee  Thank you for that question, Mr. Harris. It's a great question, underlining again the uniqueness of the Canadian military justice system and the players within that system. I'd like to assist the committee and in fact the public in their general understanding. The provost marsh

National Defence committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Pat's in good shape, so he's a supporter. Obviously, I think the rationale lies again in that distinct aspect of being in the military. Military judges are still members of the military and as such are still required to meet all standards, fitness ones inc