If there’s one thing that I’ve had to learn in my life it’s to not to count my chickens before they hatch.
As I mentioned previously, the justice in my matter has stated that the class action has merit and that I am okay to be the representative plaintiff.
I can promise you that this very much displeases the Department of Justice, the Department of National Defence, and the Canadian Armed Forces.
The DOJ has 30 days to respond to the decision. They can accept it, which will be very unlikely. Or they can appeal the decision, which is more than likely. I see no reason whatsoever as to why they wouldn’t appeal. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This decision can’t get any worse for them.
And if they do appeal, they’ll file their documents 30 minutes before the deadline.
The power imbalance that exists between myself and the Department of Justice is incalculable.
I have already made it clear that I want my name made public, this is why my name shows in the decision.
The DOJ still has the ability to request all names be censored.
The DOJ and the DND could also make applications to move this matter “in-camera” for reasons of National Security. This is the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces that we are talking about.
The Department of Justice has access to records and documents that I wouldn’t even know exist.
And don’t forget, but the DOJ also represented the Military Police Complaints Commission and by extension the Canadian Armed Forces Provost in February of 2013 when I filed my application for Judicial Review of the heavily flawed 2012 MPCC review of the 2011 CFNIS investigation.
The DOJ knew then exactly what the Canadian Forces hid and buried, but the DOJ was more than happy to sweep everything under the rug and assist the Canadian Armed Forces with further hiding their dirty laundry from the public eye.
If the DOJ had any ethics or morals it would have requested the RCMP become involved in reviewing historical matters of child sexual abuse on the bases in the days of the pre-1998 National Defence Act once it saw the wealth of documents that indicated how much the CFNIS had willing and intentionally withheld from the Military Police Complaints Commission.
Nope, the DOJ was more than happy just to argue about “new evidence” and “rules”.
You can be certain that the lawyers with the DOJ have already talked to the current and historical Minister of National Defence, the current and historical Chief of Defence Staff, the current and historical Vice Chief of Defence Staff, the current and historical Provost Marshal, the current and historical Judge Advocate General, etc. They’ve probably already had meetings with Daniel Edward Munro.
The DOJ will have access to internal communications that my lawyers and I will never have access to.
These communications will allow the DOJ to formulate an attack and a defence that will not be made clear during discovery.
And I know that documents like this exist. In my case I have records of emails with subject lines being changed to reflect less serious issues and that these files were further relegated to “encrypted files” so that they avoid any searches triggered Access to Information requests.
I also know that the Department of National Defence has a very strict retention period of 7 years for documentations and files.
And you can bet your bottom dollar that the DOJ is not beyond urging the DND and the CAF to follow their retention policy posthaste.
Beeshive 