Published on March 30, 2017

A central theme of the book "BEHIND THE TIMES" is the loss of soldiers' rights.  Indeed, the relatively recent expansion of the Canadian military justice system runs contrary to the advancements and reforms occurring in both international as well as domestic law. It has resulted in the corresponding loss of a high number of rights for soldiers and civilians tried by Canadian military tribunals, including the constitutional right to a jury trial, the right to a preliminary inquiry, the loss of the benefits of a hybrid offence etc., for those prosecuted before and tried by military tribunals.

It is somewhat unseemly to think that CF members who volunteer to put their lives on the line to defend the security and values of Canadians must give up their basic rights which seem so essential to those not uniforms.  As authors of Behind the Times, it our belief and the belief of many others that the time has come to proceed to the modernization of the National Defence Act.