Supreme Court agrees to rule on independence of Canadian military’s judges

OTTAWA — Canada’s top court has agreed to rule on whether the military’s judges are truly independent.

The Supreme Court of Canada announced its decision this morning in response to an appeal from several service members whose criminal cases are on hold.

As is customary, the court did provide any reasons or explanation for its decision to hear the case, whose genesis dates back to 2018, when the military’s top judge was charged with fraud.

While the case against Col. Mario Dutil was eventually dropped, it nonetheless set off a series of events that included a standoff between the rest of the military’s judges and then-defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance.

That included four military judges ruling in several cases that they could not be considered independent because Vance had issued an order placing responsibility for their discipline under another senior officer.

The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case comes as the military justice system is facing significant challenges and repeated calls for reform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2023.

The Canadian Press