Top court rules in favour of military justice system

MONTREAL — A Supreme Court of Canada ruling Friday means the defence minister can appeal in the case of a Canadian soldier acquitted of sexually assaulting a female subordinate.

The court ruled unanimously that the country’s National Defence Act, which governs the military justice system, is constitutional.

The decision stems from two sexual-assault cases involving soldiers.

In one, warrant officer André Gagnon was found not guilty in 2014 of sexually assaulting then corporal Stéphanie Raymond in December 2011 at an armoury near Quebec City.

The Crown argued at Gagnon’s court martial that Raymond was in a position of vulnerability and had been forced to submit to his sexual advances after a party.

Gagnon’s lawyers said the sex was consensual and that she had followed him to the armoury.

Raymond insisted at the proceedings her name not be protected under a publication ban.

The Defence Department appealed the not-guilty verdict and requested a new trial. It stated the military judge committed an error by submitting to the five-men jury the defence that Gagnon had a “sincere but erroneous” belief Raymond had agreed to the sex.

Gagnon then submitted a motion to have the appeal quashed, arguing the National Defence Act is partly unconstitutional.

The motion argued that the defence minister’s involvement in court-martial cases violates the section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that guarantees prosecutorial independence.

The court martial’s appeals court ruled in Gagnon’s favour, a decision the federal government appealed to the Supreme Court.