Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for the invitation to provide information on the Court Challenges Program.
First, I recognize that we are gathered on the unceded traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
In my role as assistant deputy minister responsible for the strategic policy, planning and corporate affairs sector, I've been responsible for the Court Challenges Program for more than the past five years.
The University of Ottawa was selected as the independent organization to implement, administer and promote the Court Challenges Program in 2017. It is an arm's-length entity, independent of the government, and it was chosen through an open and transparent process. The university supports two expert panels that are responsible for making funding decisions for the program—official language rights and human rights expert panels—and each expert panel is composed of seven highly qualified members identified through a selection process managed by the Department of Canadian Heritage for possible appointments by ministers.
The Court Challenges Program was initially established in 1978 to enable people living in Canada, regardless of their means, to bring forward legal cases when they believed their fundamental rights had been violated. It also supported individuals and organizations in challenging laws and policies that were perceived as undermining Canada's fundamental rights and freedoms. Since its initial creation 46 years ago, the Court Challenges Program, through its various iterations, has funded and supported major court cases that have significantly shaped and impacted the evolution of jurisprudence in matters of official languages and human rights in Canada.
The Court Challenges Program has historically been, and continues to be, administered by a third party at arm's length from the government, to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest on the part of the Government of Canada. The program has played an important role in ensuring access to justice and equality for all Canadians.
Moreover, the program has contributed to the protection of the human rights of all people in Canada, supported vulnerable and marginalized communities and helped minorities in defending their rights, consistently promoting justice and equity.
The court challenges program has also played a decisive role in supporting official language minority communities across Canada. By funding challenges of statutes and policies that may erode language legislation, the program helps preserve the vitality of those communities and sustain linguistic duality and diversity in Canada.
I want to emphasize that the court challenges program may not fund challenges to provincial or territorial human rights statutes, policies or practices. However, as has been the case since it was created, the program's official languages component may fund cases involving provincial and territorial governments because some constitutional language rights apply specifically to the provinces and territories.
Since it was restored in 2017, the program has funded 115 official language rights cases and 160 human rights cases. In the 2022–2023 year alone, experts granted funding for 74 cases, consisting of 33 official language rights and 41 human rights cases. Those proceedings mainly involved the language rights of official language minority communities, indigenous rights, the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, those of disabled persons and civil liberties.
The University of Ottawa publishes the data on those cases every year once the annual reports have been posted to the program's website.
The program carries out its mandate to promote equality, justice and human rights in Canada by funding and supporting these cases. Total funding for the program was increased in the 2023 budget. The resulting doubling of the federal budget over five years, as announced in the 2023 budget, will afford the program an additional $24.5 million until 2028. One third of annual funding is allocated for the clarification of language rights, and additional funding will enable the program to support more applications.
In conclusion, the program, since its inception, has produced meaningful results consistent with its mandate and objectives, and effective mechanisms are in place to maintain its integrity and proper functioning, including its independent operation.
Thank you for your attention, Mr. Chair. I will now be pleased to answer questions about the program.