Law passed three years ago by Parliament to make it easier to sue DND, deal with military grievances still in limbo

Law passed three years ago by Parliament to make it easier to sue DND, deal with military grievances still in limbo.

September 22, 2016

A law that would make it easier for members of the public to sue the Department of National Defence and for soldiers to have their grievances dealt with has never been brought into force, even though it was passed by Parliament more than three years ago.

Sections of the law, designed to improve the military justice system, extended the period that civil claims could be filed against the department. That was supposed to be increased from six months to two years, bringing the process in line with the civilian legal system. Sections of the law would also provide recourse on grievances filed by former soldiers, allowing them to be reinstated in the Canadian Forces.

The bill was passed by the House of Commons and Senate and received Royal Assent in June 2013.

But since then, most of the sections have been ignored and not brought into force. And the current government has no idea when that might happen.

“It makes a total joke of the democratic process,” Michel Drapeau, a retired colonel and Ottawa lawyer who discovered most of the sections outlined in the bill had not been brought into effect. “A law is passed by Parliament and receives Royal Assent and simply gets ignored because some bureaucrat somewhere decides what part of it he likes or doesn’t like.”


Drapeau said keeping the status quo helps the military and the DND fight off grievances filed by soldiers and civil lawsuits, including those involving personal injury as well as property and environmental damage.

The law was also supposed to allow the victims of crime to make an impact statement during a military court martial but that hasn’t happened yet. Civilian courts allow for victim impact statements.

About 60 percent of the sections outlined in the bill have not been brought into effect but it is unclear why. Those include strengthening the military justice system in regard to sentencing, restitution and intermittent sentences.

DND said in a statement that timing on such issues is up to cabinet and it would be inappropriate to speculate if or when particular aspects of the bill might be brought into force.

Jordan Owens, spokeswoman for Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, said she couldn’t speak about the timing of items that could come before cabinet but added, “this is one of the issues that our office is actively working to move forward.”

“The previous (Conservative) government had two full years to get this done before they called the election,” Owens noted when asked about the delay.

The bill went through extensive consultations, including debates before the Standing Committee on National Defence, the Senate Committee on National Defence, parliamentary hearings, multiple written submissions by high ranking officials, academics and experts in military law, both national and international, Drapeau pointed out.

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