ARROGANT DND: ANYTHING BUT PERFECT

   Incidents such as the alleged attempt to withhold records in the Vice-Admiral Mark Norman case and another where senior military officers are accused of hiding documents requested under the law are simply mistakes and should not be seen as an indictment of Canadian Forces or Defence department values, those organizations say.

   The ongoing problem, military sources say, is that there appears to be no consequences to breaking the Access to Information law at the DND and in the Canadian Forces. They pointed out that instead of complaining to the Information Commissioner and military police about the allegations, the military officer who testified at the Norman court hearing in December took his concerns directly to the vice-admiral’s lawyers.

  The statement comes as Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance and former deputy defence minister John Forster are in an Ottawa court to answer questions from Norman’s lawyers about how the Canadian Forces and Department of National Defence handle information requested under the Access to Information law. Those proceedings start Tuesday.