ARCHIVED - Chapter 6: Conclusion
Discipline is the cornerstone of a professional military. This report has addressed one aspect of the maintenance of discipline - the military justice system. In the ten years since Bill C-25 implemented significant changes, the Canadian military justice system has continued to make strides in improving its relevance and utility to the CF chain of command, while ensuring fairness to accused persons.
The statistics from this reporting period and the interviews conducted with stakeholders indicate that not only the military chain of command, but also those persons accused of an offence under the CSD, continue to have confidence in the military justice system. Given the high operational tempo of the CF, the need to ensure discipline on deployment has never been greater, and commanders have made frequent use of the military justice system to support those operations and achieve their disciplinary aims. With this increased operational tempo comes a heightened demand for legal services abroad. Legal officers have therefore continued to deploy in record-high numbers during the 2009-2010 reporting period.
One of the critical functions of the OJAG is to continually assess how further improvements can be made to the military justice system. At home, this involves ongoing participation in interdepartmental initiatives of interest to the military justice system, with the goal of ensuring that the system remains in step with developments in the broader Canadian legal framework. It also involves a continual process of assessment, analysis and communication with internal participants, as their continued reliance on fair and timely military justice to support CF operations is the best endorsement of the system's effectiveness.
By equipping the chain of command with the right tools to maintain and enforce discipline, the CF positions itself to succeed as a disciplined and professional armed force wherever it deploys. The Canadian military justice system - the most indispensible of those disciplinary tools - has seen improvements in its structure, fairness, and employment over the past decade, and throughout this reporting period. With vigilant superintendence to maintain it, and forward-looking initiatives to strengthen it, this system will keep evolving to meet the CF's disciplinary needs for years to come.