Message from the Director of Military Prosecutions

I am pleased to present the Director of Military Prosecutions (DMP) Annual Report for fiscal year 2021-22. This is the first report since my appointment on 29 June 2021. This year has brought many challenges and pressures, both internal and external to the organization. The military justice system experienced significant disruption in the last reporting period as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. While the pandemic still presents challenges, this year has marked a return to a fully functioning military justice system. The collective efforts of all military justice actors have allowed in-person courts martial to resume normally and, to this date, all ongoing cases are expected to be completed within a reasonable time.

Soon after my appointment, I initiated a comprehensive strategic review of our operations and policies. The Canadian Military Prosecution Service (CMPS) is now 22 years old and, with a new leadership team in place, the pending implementation of Bill C-77, and the recommendations of several external reviews, the time was right for a detailed examination of who we are and how we operate. This review is now well underway and I fully expect to begin implementing action plans based on our findings during the next reporting period.

Some things could not wait until we had completed our review. The CMPS took immediate steps to hire three new Reserve Force prosecutors and to speed up the intake process for a previous hire. This process was extremely successful, and the renewal of our Reserve Force military prosecutor cadre will pay significant dividends in the years to come. 

Unfortunately, we have had less success in hiring into several civilian support staff vacancies. This has created additional burdens on our existing staff and on our prosecutors, and is something that I have directed must be a priority in the next reporting year. Concurrently, we are committed to finalizing work on job descriptions and classification among our support staff, and providing clarity on management expectations.

On 20 October 2021, Madame Louise Arbour released an interim recommendation as part of her mandate to review sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). On 5 November 2021, The Canadian Forces Provost Marshal and I released a joint statement accepting the interim recommendation and taking immediate steps to begin the transfer of investigation of sexual assault allegations to civilian authorities. We also agreed that any future charges of sexual assault would be laid in the civilian criminal justice system until the CAF has completed its review and consideration of the recommendations of the various external reviews, in particular the Report of the Third Independent Review of the National Defence Act (Fish Report) and the Final Report of the Independent External Comprehensive Review (Arbour Report). On 26 November 2021, I made public my interim direction to military prosecutors in this regard. I look forward to working with the CAF and other stakeholders on this important issue over the coming months.

The CMPS has made significant progress in building our prosecutors’ level of experience and knowledge. We have a relatively small, but highly effective and capable team. This has been due, in large part, to the ongoing support of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) in keeping legal officers posted to the CMPS in their positions for longer than the normal posting cycle. The next challenge will be to make this model sustainable through careful selection and timing of new legal officers into military prosecutor positions, as well as a coordinated return of legal officers to other positions within the Office of the JAG.

I am extraordinarily proud of our excellent team of prosecutors and support staff. I have complete confidence in their ability to meet the challenges that we face over the next several years, and I am very excited about what we can accomplish together over the course of my appointment.

ORDO PER JUSTITIA

Colonel Dylan Kerr, CD
Director of Military Prosecutions

Colonel Dylan Kerr, CD
Director of Military Prosecutions