Colonel R.D. Kerr, CD

Director of Military Prosecutions

Colonel Kerr was appointed by the Minister of National Defence on 29 June 2021 to a four-year term as the Director of Military Prosecutions. The Director of Military Prosecutions is responsible for the preferring of all charges to be tried by court martial and for the conduct of all prosecutions at courts martial. The Director of Military Prosecutions also acts as counsel for the Minister in respect of appeals when instructed to do so.

Colonel Kerr enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in June 1995 as a Signal Officer. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada in 1999 with a Bachelors of Computer Engineering. After completing his Signal Officer training in 2000, Colonel Kerr was posted to 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in Edmonton, Alberta where he served as a Signal Troop Commander, Brigade Information Systems Officer, and as the Regimental Signal Officer for 1 Combat Engineer Regiment.

Colonel Kerr deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan on Operation ATHENA from August 2004 to February 2005 as the National Command Element G3 Operations, where he was employed as the Senior Duty Officer for the Canadian Tactical Operations Centre. While deployed, Colonel Kerr was inducted into the Order of the Pukka Sapper as an honorary Combat Engineer.

Colonel Kerr is a graduate of the Canadian Army Command and Staff College, Army Operations Course. He was accepted into the Military Law Training Program in 2006 and completed his law degree from Queen’s University in 2009. Colonel Kerr was called to the bar of the Law Society of Ontario in 2010 and transferred to the Office of the Judge Advocate General as a Legal Officer. He has been employed as a Military Prosecutor in the Canadian Military Prosecution Service since 2010. During that time, he has appeared before courts martial, the Court Martial Appeal Court and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Colonel Kerr is married and has two wonderful children.