Which prison would you prefer?

On November 5, 2020, a General Court Martial sentenced army Sergeant M.A. Lévesque, Royal 22e Regiment, to three months to be served in a military prison following his guilty plea for having committed the following offences during his deployment on operation PRESENCE from January 27 to May 31, 2019 in Dakar, Senegal.

• a)    Pointing  a firearm at another person without a lawful excuse contrary to section 87 of the Criminal Code; 
•   b)  Driving a military vehicle recklessly or in manner dangerous to any person contrary to section 111 of the National Defence Act (NDA) and; and,  
• c)     Having proffered racist comments and uttered threats contrary to section 129 ofthe NDA.

Sergeant Lévesque was released (discharged) on 19 August 2020. However, subsection 60(2) of NDA stipulates that every person subject to the Code of Service Discipline at the time of the commission of a service offence continues to be liable to be charged with and tried in respect to that offence under the Code of Service Discipline notwithstanding that the person may have, since the commission of the offence, ceased to be a member of the Armed Forces.

As a result Sgt Lévesque was tried by a General Court Martial – R. c. Levesque, 2020 CM 5014 which took place in November 2020. The court sentenced him to 3-month term of imprisonment in a military prison and reduced him in rank to the rank of Corporal. 

Corporal Lévesque appealed his sentence of imprisonment to be served in a military prison. 

He argued that the service prison where he will be sent is in Edmonton, Alberta would be very far from his home, whereas there is a civil prison in the Quebec region, where he currently lives, and where his young children also live. He also argued that he has not been a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for 13 months and feels that it would be very detrimental to him to find himself in a military environment again. He also submitted that the detention conditions in a service prison are much more restrictive than those in a civil prison.  

 Considering all of the circumstances, including the fact that the appellant has not been a member of the Canadian Armed Forces for over one year, his personal circumstances, and the Crown’s position at both the sentencing hearing and the appeal hearing, the Court Martial Appeal Court granted the appeal and ruled that that Corporal Lévesque will serve his sentence in a civil prison.