Bill C-381 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Judges Act (bilingualism)

This bill is from the 42nd Parliament, 1st session, which ended in September 2019.

Sponsor

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Oct. 31, 2017
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Judges Act to specify that, in certain cases, in order to be appointed as a judge of the superior court of a province, a person must be able to speak clearly in and fully understand both official languages.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-381s:

C-381 (2024) Protection against Extortion Act

C-381 (2013) Strengthening Fiscal Transparency Act

C-381 (2011) Strengthening Fiscal Transparency Act

C-381 (2010) An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking and transplanting human organs and other body parts)

C-381 (2009) An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking and transplanting human organs and other body parts)

C-381 (2007) An Act to amend the National Capital Act (appointments and meetings)

Judges ActRoutine Proceedings

October 31st, 2017 / 10:05 a.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-381, An Act to amend the Judges Act (bilingualism).

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to introduce a second bill, an act to amend the Judges Act with regard to bilingualism. This bill is very important and it responds to the recommendations of Graham Fraser, the former official languages commissioner, who issued a report in 2013 entitled “Access to Justice in Both Official Languages: Improving the Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary”. When I met the commissioner in early 2015, he told me that he had tabled this report but that the Conservatives had shelved it. He asked me to dust it off and do something with it.

I decided to move forward. I am therefore introducing this bill and hoping that the Liberals will implement it, since it seeks to replace the existing system in which judges evaluate their own mastery of the two official languages with an evaluation by the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, as recommended by the Commissioner of Official Languages. Everyone knows that self-evaluation does not work and that a formal assessment is needed.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)