National Defence Act

Marginal note:Appointment of commissioner to take evidence

• 184 (1) The Chief Military Judge, or any military judge designated by the Chief Military Judge, may appoint any officer or other qualified person, in this section referred to as a “commissioner”, to take, under oath, the evidence of any person required as a witness at a court martial

  • (a) who is, by reason of physical disability arising out of illness, not likely to be able to attend at the time the trial is held;

  • (b) who is absent from the country in which the trial is held; or

  • (c) whose attendance is not readily obtainable for a good and sufficient reason.

• Marginal note:Admissibility of commission evidence

  (2) The document containing the evidence of a witness, taken under subsection (1) and duly certified by the commissioner is admissible in evidence at a trial by court martial to the same extent and subject to the same objections as if the evidence were given by the witness in person at the trial.

• Marginal note:Power to require personal attendance of witness

  (3) If, in the opinion of a court martial, a witness whose evidence has been taken on commission should, in the interests of military justice, appear and give evidence before the court martial, and the witness is not too ill to attend the trial and is not outside the country in which the trial is held, the court martial may require the attendance of that witness.

• Marginal note:Representation, examination and cross-examination before commissioner

  (4) At any proceedings before a commissioner, the accused person and the prosecutor are entitled to be represented and the persons representing them have the right to examine and cross-examine any witness.