Acquitted former cadet leader to be retried on disgraceful conduct charges

Todd Bannister, a former commanding officer of an army cadet corps in P.E.I., will face a new trial connected to allegedly making inappropriate sexual comments to a cadet.

Bannister was acquitted by a court martial in Charlottetown in February 2018 of two counts of disgraceful conduct and two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline. He was accused of twice making inappropriate sexual comments to a teenage cadet, suggesting they have sex together, while he was commander of the cadet corps in Charlottetown.

Bannister has since retired from the military.

The Crown appealed the acquittal, and last week the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada set aside the decision of the Charlottetown court martial and directed a new trial.

In its decision, the appeal court noted the Charlottetown court martial found the witness credible, and that Bannister did make the remarks.

I do not, in any way, suggest the incidents in question here would be acceptable. Justice J. Edward Scanlan

The appeal court said context matters.

"There may be cases where courts martial are satisfied that comments are more in the nature of operational banter amongst seasoned veterans. Those same comments may be viewed under a different lens when, for example, the events involve a unit CO and young cadets," Justice J. Edward Scanlan wrote in the decision.

"With that said, I do not, in any way, suggest the incidents in question here would be acceptable no matter how seasoned the military members were."

The court noted the description of disgraceful behaviour criminalizes behaviour that would not constitute crimes in non-military settings.

The appeal court said the trial should be heard by a different military judge.

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