2013 Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence hearing on military justice

The February 11, 2013 hearing on military justice that was conducted by the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on National Defence is now available online. Among the witnesses were criminal defense attorney Clayton Ruby, Glenn Stannard, Chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission, Justice (ret) Gilles Létourneau and Colonel (ret) Michel W. Drapeau. Much of the discussion related to summary trials. Justice Létourneau testified:

[T]here is a need for a fundamental wall-to-wall review of the National Defence Act, a review that has to be conducted outside the control of the Department of National Defence so that Parliament can be provided with a legislative proposal that addresses not only the wishes of the military leadership but also, first and foremost, the expectations of our civil society, who demand that our soldiers who serve in uniform be afforded rights equal to those provided in the civilian penal system in Canada and other militaries abroad. This is currently not the case.