Justice committee  That issue came up when we were consulting the provinces prior to Bill C-13. We decided that to extend at that point was not a good idea basically because provinces were telling us that they still had problems ensuring a full implementation of the current language regime, so they

Justice committee  It is true, it did respond.

Justice committee  Yes, that is correct.

Justice committee  If I may, based on the wording of sections 530 and 530.1, they do not apply to appeals.

Justice committee  Yes, it stated that there were no real issues. I have the letter in front of me. It says, “Generally speaking we are not having any difficulty meeting” the 2008 amendments. It is a very short letter.

Justice committee  I see. I would like to come back to a point you raised and specify that the Supreme Court, in the Beaulac decision, found that the proficiency of the accused in the other language is not relevant in any way. The accused may exercise his or her right and request a trial in French

Justice committee  In the Beaulac case, various appeal courts had dismissed the applications for a French trial, and the dismissals rested exclusively on the fact that Mr. Beaulac understood English. The Supreme Court clearly found that this factor was not relevant in any way.