Overview
- The Military Police Complaints Commission published its 2025 annual report Tuesday and renewed its third consecutive call for statutory reform to strengthen civilian oversight of Canada’s military police.
- The report says the commission opened 212 new files in 2025, including 72 conduct complaints, ran eight public interest investigations and held two public interest hearings into serious allegations such as sexual misconduct, arson and attempted murder.
- The Canadian Forces Provost Marshal declined 32.2% of the MPCC’s recommendations in 2025, and the commission says that pattern has shifted from procedural resistance to what it describes as an outright refusal to comply.
- The MPCC has submitted legislative packages in 2024 and 2025, partly based on former justice Morris Fish’s advice, and asked Defence Minister David McGuinty for new tools such as broader subpoena powers to obtain evidence and compel cooperation.
- If Parliament does not act the MPCC warns oversight will remain limited, which could leave victims and the public with fewer protections and increase the risk that misconduct or interference in military police investigations goes unchecked.