Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures

Military Grievances External Review Committee 2024 - 2025

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on travel, hospitality and conference expenditures for Military Grievances External Review Committee for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025.

Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures incurred by a federal department or agency relate to activities that support the department or agency’s mandate and the government’s priorities.

Mandate:

The raison d’être of the Committee is to provide an independent and external review of military grievances. Section 29 of the National Defence Act provides a statutory right for an officer or a non-commissioned member who has been aggrieved, to grieve a decision, an act or an omission in the administration of the affairs of the Canadian Armed Forces. The importance of this broad right cannot be overstated since it is, with certain narrow exceptions, the only formal complaint process available to the Canadian Armed Forces.
The Committee is an independent administrative tribunal reporting to Parliament through the Minister of National Defence.
The Committee reviews grievances referred to it pursuant to Section 29 of the National Defence Act and provides findings and recommendations to the Chief of the Defence Staff and the Canadian Armed Forces member who submitted the grievance.
The Committee also has the obligation to deal with all matters before it as informally and expeditiously as the circumstances and the considerations of fairness permit.
The Committee operates under two core responsibilities: Independent Review of Military Grievances, and Internal Services.

Military Grievances External Review Committee Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures for Year ending March 31, 2025

Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures
Expenditure category	Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2025 ($ thousands)	Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2024 ($ thousands)	Variance ($ thousands)
Travel
Operational activities	$21.00	$12.10	$8.90
Key stakeholders	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Internal governance	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Training	$3.90	$7.60	-$3.70
Other	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
A. Total travel	$24.90	$19.70	$5.20
B. Hospitality	$2.30	$2.30	$0.00
C. Conference fees	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total [A+B+C]	$27.20	$22.00	$5.20
International travel by minister and minister's staff (included in travel)	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Explanation of significant variances compared with previous fiscal year

Total travel:

In the fiscal year 2024-25, travel expenses increased compared to 2023-24, primarily due to the fact that the Committee had an increase in the number of regional employees working with the Committee. In addition, the Committee held an extra management meeting in December 2024 to bring together new employees and regional staff with their teams for team integration and strategic discussions on the business process review. That said, to help reduce travel costs, the organization limited travel for training purposes where feasible and prioritized virtual participation whenever appropriate.

Hospitality:

In the fiscal year 2024-25, hospitality expenses are similar to the ones incurred in 2023-24.

Conference fees:

In fiscal year 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Committee did not incur conference fees expense.