Thank you for your question.
First, I want to assure you that the IRB is determined to offer its services in both of Canada's official languages. I spoke about that with the chair of the IRB, who confirmed for me that the Commission has an obligation in that regard. On March 16, a board member in the Immigration Division rendered a decision to the effect that the language used for proceedings in this investigation would be changed to French.
The board member in the IRB's Immigration Division ruled that the documents that had previously been filed would not be translated since the CBSA, that is the Minister of Public Safety, had met his obligation under subsection 25(1) of the Immigration Division Rules to submit documents in the language of the proceedings, which was English at that time. In other words, both lawyer and client initially accepted English as the language of the proceedings. That's why the board member directed that every document subsequently filed in evidence had to be provided in French or translated into French, the new language of the proceedings.
As the IRB is a quasi-judicial tribunal, I am limited in my comments. However, Mr. Chairman, I can say that all the rules have been followed. From the moment the client and his counsel requested a change of language, all documents had to be filed in French, but as the language at the outset was English, the documents were in English.