Military justice officials defend handling of sexual assault cases stayed in civilian court

Senior military officials insist their investigators and prosecutors did nothing wrong and they won't be making any changes in response to two military sexual assault cases that were stayed in civilian courts.

A civilian judge last month terminated the trial of now-retired Lt.-Gen. Trevor Cadieu and his co-accused after concluding there were unreasonable delays.

Another civilian judge in September said he "reluctantly" ended the criminal proceeding in the case of retired corporal Arianna Nolet, who alleges she was sexually assaulted at CFB Petawawa in 2020. The judge concluded the accused's right to a trial within a reasonable time had been violated.

In both cases, the judges said the military contributed to some of the delays. 

Deputy Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Col. Vanessa Hanrahan said she conducted a "thorough review" of how military police handled Cadieu's case after it was stayed.

The judge in that case said the Crown withheld a key interview from the defence for nine months "pending redactions to the video that the Crown asked the military police to perform." The judge wrote in his decision that "military police were not responsive to this request."

"So all I can tell you is that I am confident in the review that I have done to indicate that we did not see any unnecessary delay in the provision of documentation between the military police and the Crown prosecutor's office," Hanrahan told CBC News. 

"So no specific changes resulting as a result of this specific file. But I would argue we would always look to improve things."

The military is under pressure to ensure that other sexual assault cases won't be thrown out due to delays if they're referred to the civilian system. The forces started transferring sexual misconduct files to civilian courts at the end of 2021, after the federal government agreed to an interim recommendation by retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.

The government tasked Arbour with independently reviewing the military's culture in response to a sexual misconduct crisis that saw a series of senior leaders sidelined from top military posts.

Cadieu was poised to take command of the Canadian Army in 2021 before he was charged in relation to a sexual assault that allegedly happened in 1994. He denied the allegation. The charge was stayed in October.

Cadieu and Nolet's cases were among the first of those transferred out of the military system since late 2021 to reach conclusions in civilian court.

When asked to explain the delay in Cadieu's case, Hanrahan said that when military police lay charges in the civilian system, they work to provide disclosure in a timely manner to the Crown. Military police assist the Crown with tasks like redactions, but it's the Crown's responsibility to disclose evidence to the defence, she added.

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