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Subject > Armed Forces > Military Life > Discipline, Justice and Punishment

Somalia Investigation Hits 'Inexplicable Delay'

Type: Film and Video

Major Vince Buonamici, a Military Police Officer, testifies at the Somali Inquiry that he investigated two shooting deaths of Somalis by Airborne soldiers in 1993. He reports that the military chain of command deliberately delayed his work - work that could have prevented Shidane Arone's death.

Site: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Ethnic Tensions Within the Militia

Type: Document

Because the population of Canada in the 19th century included a mix of different cultures, there were tensions between them on occasion. The military authorities had to make it clear on occasion that such attitudes were not welcome in the Militia.

Site: National Defence

Justice at the Muzzle of a Cannon

Type: Document

During the mid 19th century, outbreaks of piracy by Amerindians were met with strong responses by the Royal Navy. In one such incident in 1864, pirates murdered the crew of a merchant vessel. When the Navy arrived and met with armed resistance, 8 villages were burned.

Site: National Defence

Justice

Type: Document

Officers were subject to both military and civil courts, and could face the death penalty. Duelling, disobeying orders and flight in the face of the enemy were all strenuously punished.

Site: National Defence

Some Aspects of Disciplinary Policy in the Canadian Services, 1914-1946

Type: Document

The most significant development in disciplinary policy during the period covered by this report was the process by which complete control of punishment in the Canadian forces passes from British to Canadian authorities. This process began in the First World War and was completed as a result of constitutional changes in the period before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Site: National Defence

Soldier's Story - Horror on the Battlefield - First World War

Type: Document

A young man from the Gaspé peninsula witnesses the atrocities of battle in World War I. From the television series "Canada: A People's History." Includes links to educational resources, bibliography, games, puzzles, and video clips.

Site: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Somalia Affair: Dismissal with Disgrace

Type: Sound

Kyle Brown is found guilty of the manslaughter and torture of Shidane Arone, but some Somalis living in Canada are outraged with the sentence that was handed to him. Ahmed Adan, a Somalian-Canadian, expresses his disappointment with how the Canadian government has dealt with the Somalia Inquiry and how he feels Canada has failed Shidane Arone.

Site: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Royal Navy Polices the Coast

Type: Document

The Royal Navy acted as a kind of police force along the British Columbia coast in the mid-19th century. The local Amerindian nations were not keen about European settlement, and incidents resulted. In addition, British law against murder, piracy and slavery was firmly imposed.

Site: National Defence

Mutinies and Desertion

Type: Document

Despite the ferocious punishments they were subject to during the 18th and 19th centuries, mutiny was very rare amongst British troops. Desertion, on the other hand, was a constant problem, and grew worse as travel to the United States became easier during the 19th century.

Site: National Defence

Reduction and Restructuring

Type: Document

As fears of rebellion faded in the early 1840s, the garrison in Canada was reduced. Canadian units were disbanded, and the British presence shrank each year. A unit of British veterans, the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, was raised to help prevent desertions to the United States.

Site: National Defence