National Defence Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. N-5)

Marginal note:Chairperson

• 29.17 (1) The Chairperson is the chief executive officer of the Grievances Committee and has supervision over and direction of its work and staff.

• Marginal note:Absence or incapacity

  (2) In the event of the absence or incapacity of the Chairperson or if that office is vacant, the Minister may authorize a Vice-Chairperson to exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions of the Chairperson.

• Marginal note:Delegation

  (3) The Chairperson may delegate to a Vice-Chairperson any of the Chairperson’s powers, duties or functions under this Act, except the power to delegate under this subsection and the duty to submit an annual report under subsection 29.28(1).

Marginal note:Head office

29.18 The head office of the Grievances Committee shall be at the place in Canada designated by the Governor in Council.

Marginal note:Staff

• 29.19 (1) The employees that are necessary for the proper conduct of the work of the Grievances Committee shall be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.

• Marginal note:Experts

  (2) The Grievances Committee may, with the approval of the Treasury Board, engage on a temporary basis the services of counsel and other persons having technical or specialized knowledge to assist the Grievances Committee in its work, establish the terms and conditions of their engagement and fix and pay their remuneration and expenses.

Marginal note:Duties and functions

• 29.2 (1) The Grievances Committee shall review every grievance referred to it by the Chief of the Defence Staff and provide its findings and recommendations in writing to the Chief of the Defence Staff and the officer or non-commissioned member who submitted the grievance.

• Marginal note:Duty to act expeditiously

  (2) The Grievances Committee shall deal with all matters before it as informally and expeditiously as the circumstances and the considerations of fairness permit.

Marginal note:Powers

29.21 The Grievances Committee has, in relation to the review of a grievance referred to it, the power

• (a) to summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses and compel them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce any documents and things under their control that it considers necessary to the full investigation and consideration of matters before it;

• (b) to administer oaths; and

• (c) to receive and accept any evidence and information that it sees fit, whether admissible in a court of law or not.

Marginal note:Restriction

29.22 The Grievances Committee may not receive or accept any evidence or other information that would be inadmissible in a court of law by reason of any privilege under the law of evidence.

Marginal note:Witness not excused from testifying

• 29.23 (1) No witness shall be excused from answering any question relating to a grievance before the Grievances Committee when required to do so by the Grievances Committee on the ground that the answer to the question may tend to criminate the witness or subject the witness to any proceeding or penalty.

• Marginal note:Answer not receivable

  (2) No answer given or statement made by a witness in response to a question described in subsection (1) may be used or receivable against the witness in any disciplinary, criminal, administrative or civil proceeding, other than a hearing or proceeding in respect of an allegation that the witness gave the answer or made the statement knowing it to be false.

Marginal note:Expenses

29.24 Travel and living expenses incurred in appearing before the Grievances Committee shall, in the discretion of the Grievances Committee, be paid, in accordance with applicable Treasury Board directives, to the officer or non-commissioned member whose grievance is being heard, and to that person’s assisting officer or counsel, if the Grievances Committee holds a hearing at a place in Canada that is not their ordinary place of residence.

Marginal note:Return of documents, etc.

29.25 Documents and things presented to the Grievances Committee at a hearing shall, on request, be returned to the person who presented them within a reasonable time after the Grievances Committee has provided its findings and recommendations to the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Marginal note:Rules

• 29.26 (1) The Chairperson may make rules respecting

  • (a) the manner of dealing with grievances referred to the Grievances Committee, including the conduct of investigations and hearings by the Grievances Committee;

  • (b) the apportionment of the work of the Grievances Committee among its members and the assignment of members to review grievances; and

  • (c) the performance of the duties and functions of the Grievances Committee.

• Marginal note:Hearings in private

  (2) A hearing of the Grievances Committee is to be held in private, unless the Chairperson, having regard to the interests of the persons participating in the hearing and the interest of the public, directs that the hearing or any part of it be held in public.

Marginal note:Protection of members

29.27 No criminal or civil proceedings lie against any member of the Grievances Committee, or against any person acting on its behalf, for anything done, reported or said in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of a power or in the performance or purported performance of a duty or function of the Grievances Committee.

Marginal note:Annual report

• 29.28 (1) The Chairperson shall, within three months after the end of each year, submit to the Minister a report of the activities of the Grievances Committee during that year and its recommendations, if any.

• Marginal note:Tabling in Parliament

  (2) The Minister shall have a copy of the report laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives it.

Release

Marginal note:Entitlement

• 30 (1) Except during an emergency, an officer or non-commissioned member who is not on active service is entitled to be released at the expiration of the term of service for which the officer or non-commissioned member is enrolled or re-engaged.

• Marginal note:Effect of illegal absence

  (2) Except as may be prescribed in regulations made by the Governor in Council, any period during which an officer or non-commissioned member is in a state of desertion or is absent without leave shall not be reckoned toward the completion of the term of service for which that officer or non-commissioned member was enrolled or re-engaged.

• Marginal note:Exception in emergency or when on active service

  (3) Where the term of service for which an officer or non-commissioned member is enrolled or re-engaged expires during an emergency or when the officer or non-commissioned member is on active service or within one year after the expiration of an emergency or after he has ceased to be on active service, the officer or non-commissioned member is liable to serve until the expiration of one year after the emergency has ceased to exist or after he has ceased to be on active service, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Reinstatement

  (4) Subject to regulations made by the Governor in Council, where

  • (a) an officer or non-commissioned member has been released from the Canadian Forces or transferred from one component to another by reason of a sentence of dismissal or a finding of guilty by a court martial or any civil court, and

  • (b) the sentence or finding ceases to have force and effect as a result of a decision of a competent authority,

  the release or transfer may be cancelled, with the consent of the officer or non-commissioned member concerned, who shall thereupon, except as provided in those regulations, be deemed for the purpose of this Act or any other Act not to have been so released or transferred.

Active Service

Marginal note:Placing forces on active service

• 31 (1) The Governor in Council may place the Canadian Forces or any component, unit or other element thereof or any officer or non-commissioned member thereof on active service anywhere in or beyond Canada at any time when it appears advisable to do so

  • (a) by reason of an emergency, for the defence of Canada;

  • (b) in consequence of any action undertaken by Canada under the United Nations Charter; or

  • (c) in consequence of any action undertaken by Canada under the North Atlantic Treaty, the North American Aerospace Defence Command Agreement or any other similar instrument to which Canada is a party.

• Marginal note:When officers and non-commissioned members deemed on active service

  (2) An officer or non-commissioned member who

  • (a) is a member of, serving with, or attached or seconded to, a component, unit or other element of the Canadian Forces that has been placed on active service,

  • (b) has been placed on active service, or

  • (c) pursuant to law has been attached or seconded to a portion of a force that has been placed on active service,

  shall be deemed to be on active service for all purposes.

Marginal note:Proclamation for meeting of Parliament

32 Whenever the Governor in Council places the Canadian Forces or any component or unit thereof on active service, if Parliament is then separated by an adjournment or prorogation that will not expire within ten days, a proclamation shall be issued for the meeting of Parliament within ten days, and Parliament shall accordingly meet and sit on the day appointed by the proclamation, and shall continue to sit and act in like manner as if it had stood adjourned or prorogued to the same day.

Service

Marginal note:Liability in case of regular force

• 33 (1) The regular force, all units and other elements thereof and all officers and non-commissioned members thereof are at all times liable to perform any lawful duty.

• Marginal note:Liability in case of reserve force

  (2) The reserve force, all units and other elements thereof and all officers and non-commissioned members thereof

  • (a) may be ordered to train for such periods as are prescribed in regulations made by the Governor in Council; and

  • (b) may be called out on service to perform any lawful duty other than training at such times and in such manner as by regulations or otherwise are prescribed by the Governor in Council.

• Marginal note:Exception in case of reserve force

  (3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall be deemed to impose liability to serve as prescribed therein, without his consent, on an officer or non-commissioned member of the reserve force who is, by virtue of the terms of his enrolment, liable to perform duty on active service only.

• Marginal note:Meaning of duty

  (4) In this section, duty means any duty that is military in nature and includes any duty involving public service authorized under section 273.6.

Limitation on Deployment

Marginal note:Persons under eighteen

34 A person who is under the age of eighteen years may not be deployed by the Canadian Forces to a theatre of hostilities.

Pay and Allowances

Marginal note:Treasury Board to establish

• 35 (1) The rates and conditions of issue of pay of officers and non-commissioned members, other than military judges, shall be established by the Treasury Board.

• Marginal note:Reimbursements and allowances

  (2) The payments that may be made to officers and non-commissioned members by way of reimbursement for travel or other expenses and by way of allowances in respect of expenses and conditions arising out of their service shall be determined and regulated by the Treasury Board.

Supply and Issue of Materiel

Marginal note:Ministerial approval

36 The materiel supplied to or used by the Canadian Forces shall be of such type, pattern and design and shall be issued on such scales and in such manner as the Minister, or such authorities of the Canadian Forces as are designated by the Minister for that purpose, may approve.

Public Property

Marginal note:Liability for loss or damage

37 The conditions under which and the extent to which an officer or non-commissioned member is liable to Her Majesty in respect of loss of or damage to public property shall be as prescribed in regulations.

Non-public Property

Marginal note:Non-public property of units

• 38 (1) The non-public property of a unit or other element of the Canadian Forces shall vest in the officer from time to time in command of that unit or other element, and shall be used for the benefit of officers and non-commissioned members or for any other purpose approved by the Chief of the Defence Staff in the manner and to the extent authorized by the Chief of the Defence Staff.

• Marginal note:Non-public property of disbanded units

  (2) The non-public property of every disbanded unit or other disbanded element of the Canadian Forces vested in the officer in command of that unit or other element shall pass to and vest in the Chief of the Defence Staff, and may be disposed of at the discretion and direction of the Chief of the Defence Staff for the benefit of all or any officers and non-commissioned members or former officers and non-commissioned members, or their dependants.

• Marginal note:Non-public property of units or elements in altered circumstances

  (3) Where, by reason of a substantial reduction in the number of officers and non-commissioned members serving in a unit or other element of the Canadian Forces or by reason of a change in the location or other conditions of service of a unit or other element, the Chief of the Defence Staff considers it desirable to do so, he may direct that the non-public property or any part thereof that is vested in the officer in command of that unit or other element shall pass to and be vested in the Chief of the Defence Staff on the terms set out in subsection (2).