Justice committee  Unfortunately, the answer is the same. I'm not going to comment on that, for the reasons I just gave.

Justice committee  As Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, I must respect the justice system. I must be careful not to have any influence on the ongoing trials.

Justice committee  In my case, it's not a matter of politics. I do so out of respect for the courts as Minister of Justice. Not wanting to have an influence on trials is a form of privilege. It is very important for me, in my role, to protect the judicial system.

Justice committee  I did what I had to do as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to protect the justice system and respect the role of the courts.

Justice committee  I am very proud of our justice system in Canada.

Justice committee  We have several institutions that did their job...

Justice committee  First of all, we have done this in practice. We have enshrined a practice that puts such a high premium on functional bilingualism that it practically is a bar in being selected. We haven't done that formally. I'm not sure it's a good idea, formally, because there may be other needs of the court at some point—for example, to appoint an indigenous person—where we may have to soften that requirement down the road.

Justice committee  First of all, thank you for conducting this consultation during the process. It was very valuable. Your comments were very important. Yes, it was important. We have acted accordingly, especially for this process. We made sure there would be no leaks. We have taken steps in this direction.

Justice committee  As Ms. Campbell pointed out, on a court you have a dynamic when cases are heard and there's interaction amongst the judges both in the hearing as well as in the preparation prior to the hearing, and then in the decision-making phase afterwards, where there will be back and forth between and amongst judges to make better decisions.

Justice committee  The question is clearly intended for me. I do not agree with this proposal. According to the Supreme Court Act, this decision belongs to the Prime Minister , i.e. the governor in council. We do not want to weaken the Prime Minister's ability to make the best choice, in his opinion.

Justice committee  The problem is that if I make a recommendation that is not included in the final decision, journalists and you, my parliamentary colleagues around the table, will ask me who I recommended. It would become too difficult to protect the confidentiality of the process. It is also necessary to protect, with all due respect, the ability of the Prime Minister to make his own choice.

Justice committee  It is easier to close the door from the beginning. Otherwise, we could go down a slippery slope.

Justice committee  I don't know. The Privacy Commissioner has stated that he has opened an investigation into the matter, and I'm not going to comment on his ongoing investigation. I will say that federal departments will co-operate fully with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and that I took steps in this current process both in terms of limiting the number of people who had access to the process within my department, as well as segregating the server and doing everything securely that we needed to do to make sure that there was no breach of privacy from my department.

Justice committee  As you know and as I've said many times in the House of Commons and in other public fora, including in front of the press, I make no comment on anything with respect to that file. Anything that I can or might say might have an impact on ongoing litigation. Therefore, I'm very careful in that regard.

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Ms. Campbell. I will take the floor for a few moments again to talk to you about the Honourable Nicholas Kasirer. Born in 1960 and originally from Montreal, Mr. Justice Kasirer was called to the Quebec Bar in 1987, after graduating with distinction from the University of Toronto in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science and a Bachelor of Civil Law and Common Law degree from McGill University in 1985.