National Defence committee  I would have difficulty in pointing to a single recommendation. One point I made in the report is that they are all interrelated. If I didn't recommend, for instance, the creation of an inspector general, it's on the assumption that criminal sexual offences will be out of the sys

National Defence committee  First of all, in my recommendation that the civilian authority should have exclusive jurisdiction over criminal sexual offences, it's not a matter of negotiation between the military police and the victims. It's a 911 case. They all are, like everybody else in the country. That's

National Defence committee  Yes. I had signalled to you that this is a very difficult question. It's talking about culture change and so on. There is, in my report, a reference to existing groups—I forget because I haven't looked at it very recently—that represent LGBT groups. I think there are indigenous

National Defence committee  Yes. In fact, when I talk about bringing external oxygen into the system, I think it's important to recognize the importance of the work of the Department of National Defence, with the deputy minister heading that part of the operation. There have been some concerns expressed to

National Defence committee  Well, I think it would be essentially the same as it is for all prosecutions in the civilian system. There are some instances where it is possible that the military police would be what I would call the first respondent. Possibly if offences are committed abroad, before you could

National Defence committee  Thank you. I think my report deals quite extensively with that issue. I'm very conscious that this suggestion goes right back to the Somalia inquiry and has been extensively discussed in the literature. When you come to articulating it, if you look, for instance, at the Austral

National Defence committee  I have to tell you I was very concerned about everything having to do with health care, but that was not entirely included in my mandate. As well, I simply did not have the capacity to look into that aspect. In fact, the reason for this is the same as why I was unable to take the

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

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  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  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  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