I read quite thoroughly the views of the chief of the Military Police Complaints Commission. I listened to Vice-Admiral Donaldson and Colonel Grubb as well. The question really wasn't answered. Maybe the JAG could help us here.
The argument put forth by the Military Police Complaints Commission is that this was unnecessary because the relationship between the vice-chief of defence staff, whoever that may be, and the provost marshal was within the chain of command, and that this power actually existed, so it was unnecessary to put that in there. Now, there may be a transparency argument to say that it may exist, but this puts it on paper and formalizes it, and it also provides the transparency side, which I think is a useful argument.
I have a second concern or question regarding this matter. We have two sets of guidelines here. One is the general guidelines. The Military Police Complaints Commission gave us a copy of a 1998 general set of instructions--or authorities, I suppose you'd call it--signed by the then Chief of the Defence Staff and the provost marshal of the day. I think it's called the accountability framework. I don't know if it's current or not. Maybe you could tell us about that.
If we're going down this road of formalizing the role of the provost marshal and formalizing the right to make instructions, I would be inclined to consider this amendment if we add to proposed subsection 18.5(4) so that it reads: The Provost Marshal shall ensure that instructions and guidelines issued under subsection (3) and subsection (2) are available to the public.
There are two sets of guidelines here. One is the general guidelines, or the accountability framework, and the second is the specific guidelines. I see the problem and I see that there may be circumstances in which it isn't possible to conduct individual or particular types of investigations in the way that the provost marshal as an independent police force might want in terms of professional standards, but in the interests of transparency and civilian or public awareness of this important relationship, I would want the general instructions, such as the accountability framework itself, to be made public as well.
Would you care to comment on this proposal?