Provide feedback on the implementation of the Declaration of Victims Rights in the Code of Service Discipline

On May 10, 2018, the Government of Canada introduced Bill C-77, An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make Related and Consequential Amendments to Other Acts, (Bill C-77), which received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. Bill C-77 strengthens the military justice system and aligns it with the civilian criminal justice system while respecting the unique requirements of the military justice system.

Now that the provisions introduced in Bill C-77 have come into force, including the one introducing the Declaration of Victims Rights, substantial amendments to the Queen’s Regulations and Orders for the Canadian Forces, (QR&O) have been carried out.

The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are seeking ongoing feedback from current and former CAF members and DND employees as well as from the general public on the policy and regulations supporting the Declaration of Victims Rights. To this end, the DND and the CAF continue to use various consultation activities to ensure that a broad cross-section of views are taken into consideration.

Past stakeholder engagements include consultations with:

• organizations internal to the CAF, including the chain of command
• federal and provincial governments partners
• victims’ advocacy groups
• Individual Victims and Survivors
• current and former CAF members/DND employees

Between May and July 2021, an internal survey was conducted targeting experiences of victims and survivors in the military justice system. This internal survey received over 1700 responses. Another survey quickly followed and reached out to former CAF members, gathering another 300 responses.

Engagements in a range of formats will continue, in order to support the DND and the CAF to realize this important evolution of the military justices system.

Declaration of Victims Rights

The Declaration of Victims Rights gives victims of service offences the rights to information, protection, participation and restitution. These rights mirror those found in the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, and their introduction aligns victims’ rights available in the military justice system with those available in the civilian criminal justice system.

In addition, the Declaration of Victims Rights provides for the appointment by a commanding officer of a Victim’s Liaison Officer to help ensure that victims are properly informed and positioned to access their rights.

Lastly, where a victim of a service offence is of the opinion that their rights under the Declaration of Victims Rights have been infringed or denied, the victim has a right to file a complaint.

Who can provide feedback?

Any interested party, whether they are

• Current or former CAF members
• Current or former DND employees
• Victims’ groups members
• Interested and affected parties
• General public

may use the form below to provide comments on the development of policy orientations for the regulations required to support the implementation of the Declaration of Victims Rights. 

Using this feedback form

Please use the form below to enter your comments and/or suggestions or considerations on the policy and the regulations supporting the Declaration of Victims Rights. We want to hear from you on:

• the appointment of a Victim’s Liaison Officer
• the right to information provided to victims of service offences
• the right to protection
• the right to participation in the military justice system
• the right to seek restitution
• the complaint mechanism should a victim feel their right has been infringed or denied

If at any point during your viewing of the web page or in submitting your comments you feel you require additional support:

• a list of victims/survivors service providers can be found using the Victim Services Directory. The Directory, created by the Policy Centre for Victim Issues at the Department of Justice Canada, helps service providers, victims/survivors, and others to locate services across Canada
• the Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre (SMSRC) provides confidential 24/7 support services to CAF members who are and/or have been affected by sexual misconduct

For more information, please visit our Links and Resources page.

Privacy

For privacy and security reasons, please do not include any protected information or information that could identify either yourself or others in the comment box. If you provide any information that could potentially identify anyone, it will be removed upon receipt.