summary <div>The pre-release version of this Legislative

Summary is now available. Parliamentarians and their staff can obtain a copy by submitting a request or contacting the Library of Parliament. Members of the public can obtain a copy by contacting the Information Service at the Library of Parliament at Info@parl.gc.ca.<br/><br/>On 10 May 2018, the Minister of National Defence introduced Bill C-77,

An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, in the House of Commons and it was given first reading. <br/><br/>Bill C-77 amends provisions of the National Defence Act governing the military justice system.<br/>It adds a new Division, entitled “Declaration of Victims Rights”, to the Code of Service Discipline, that specifies that victims of service offences have a right to information, protection, participation and restitution in respect of service offences. It adds or amends several

definitions, including “victim” and “military justice system participant”, and specifies who may act on a victim’s behalf for the purposes of that Division.<br/>It amends

Part III of that Act to, among other things,<br/>(

a) specify the purpose of the Code of Service Discipline and the fundamental purpose of imposing sanctions at

summary hearings;<br/>(

b) protect the privacy and security of victims and witnesses in proceedings involving certain sexual offences;<br/>(

c) specify factors that a military judge is to take into consideration when determining whether to make an exclusion order;<br/>(

d) make testimonial aids more accessible to vulnerable witnesses;<br/>(

e) allow witnesses to testify using a pseudonym in appropriate cases;<br/>(

f) on application, make publication bans for victims under the age of 18 mandatory;<br/>(

g) in certain circumstances, require a military judge to inquire of the prosecutor if reasonable steps have been taken to inform the victims of any plea agreement entered into by the accused and the prosecutor;<br/>(

h) provide that the acknowledgment of the harm done to the victims and to the community is a sentencing objective;<br/>(

i) provide for different ways of presenting victim impact statements;<br/>(

j) allow for military impact statements and community impact statements to be considered for all service offences;<br/>(

k) provide, as a principle of sentencing, that particular attention should be given to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders;<br/>(

l) provide for the creation, in regulations, of service infractions that can be dealt with by

summary hearing;<br/>(

m) provide for a scale of sanctions in respect of service infractions and for the principles applicable to those sanctions;<br/>(

n) provide for a six-month limitation period in respect of

summary hearings; and<br/>(

o) provide superior commanders, commanding officers and delegated officers with jurisdiction to conduct a

summary hearing in respect of a person charged with having committed a service infraction if the person is at least one rank below the officer conducting the

summary hearing.<br/>Finally, the enactment makes related and consequential amendments to certain Acts.

Most notably, it amends the Criminal Code to include military justice system participants in the class of persons against whom offences relating to intimidation of a justice system participant can be committed.</div> House of Commons — First reading: Completed (2018-05-10) House of Commons — Second reading: Completed (2018-10-15) House of Commons — Consideration in committee: Completed (2018-12-03) House of Commons — Report stage: Completed (2019-02-22) House of Commons — Third reading: Completed (2019-02-28) Senate — First reading: Completed (2019-03-18) Senate — Second reading: Completed (2019-04-30) Senate — Consideration in committee: Completed (2019-05-29) Senate — Third reading: Completed (2019-06-18) Full bill text is not included in the LEGISinfo JSON export.

Open the official Parliament of Canada bill page for the complete document.