Transcript

(J) Canadian Armed Forces members travelled down under to participate in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE.

The biennial Australian, United States-led training exercise is designed to strengthen relationships and interoperability with various participating countries, including New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom.

(S) During the exercise, we spoke to a CAF member deployed with HMCS Regina about the at-sea element of the training.

(AA) Exercise TALISMAN SABRE is a multinational exercise led by the United States Navy and we are here to integrate the Royal Canadian Navy with the U.S. and Australian Navy. It’s important for our Navy to integrate with other navies well so we can increase our warfighting capability. We need to become more proficient in working with other navies so we can communicate better, faster, we can make decisions faster, and I think that TALISMAN SABRE is one of the exercises that gives us that opportunity to learn.

Participating in Exercise TALISMAN SABRE has been a great experience, a lot of new things that we haven’t seen before, new contacts that we worked with, not necessarily new to us, but it has been a while, so it’s always good to brush up on those skills. I think that everybody on the ship benefited from participating in this exercise.

(S) Her Excellency, the Governor General gave Royal Assent to Bill C-77, marking an historic moment in the evolution of the military justice system.

(J) The Act, which amends the National Defence Act and makes related and consequential amendments to other Acts, enhances the military justice system in several areas, including the introduction of the Declaration of Victims Rights to the Code of Service Discipline, added provisions mirroring the Criminal Code, and other reforms designed to address minor breaches of military discipline.

(S) Aligning with components of the civilian criminal justice system will strengthen the military justice system while respecting the unique requirements of the Canadian Armed Forces.