Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm quite pleased, on behalf of the Law Society of New Brunswick, to have accepted the invitation to appear before this committee. I'd like to commend the chairman on his new term within the committee.
I am the Vice-President of the Law Society of New Brunswick. I've been a lawyer for 23 years and in private practice for 17 years, having articled for approximately 4 years in the administration of justice, more specifically at the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench. As you know, New Brunswick is a bilingual province which unequivocally recognizes the legal status of French and English within the justice system. In our province litigants have the right to proceed in the language of their choice, which is very important, to be understood by the trial judge or by a panel of judges hearing the case in the language of the litigant's choice.
We have prepared a brief document to outline the position of New Brunswick. On the first page you'll find a section entitled "Insight from New Brunswick". It includes sections of the New Brunswick Official Languages Act. I would like to point out that under section 18 of the act, no person shall be placed at a disadvantage by reason of the choice he or she has made as to the language used in proceedings. In New Brunswick, that is a very important aspect of the Official Languages Act.
The Law Society of New Brunswick supports Bill C-232. As mentioned by a number of individuals and representatives who have already appeared before your committee, in light of the evolution of this country and of linguistic rights since the advent of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, oral and written understanding of legal proceedings through translation or interpretation before the highest court in the land is a legislative anomaly. Even with the best intentions, for the individual trying to understand and for the interpreter, interpretation or translation do not necessarily reflect the essence of a text, the nature of an expression or of a word, the tone or the force of an argument. Moreover, because our laws are bilingual, it goes without saying that an understanding of French and English can open the door to a determination based on subtleties of language or syntax. Thereby the necessity of understanding French and English, in order to arrive at a wise determination of the interpretation of our laws.
Bill C-232 is quite laudable. As I mentioned, the Law Society of New Brunswick supports it. However, there is one concern. Despite the relevance of the problem and its timeliness, Bill C-232 does not immediately rectify the situation. As mentioned by Yvon Godin, member of Parliament, the proposed provision would only apply to any new appointment of justices on the Supreme Court of Canada. Until such time as there are only bilingual judges sitting on the Supreme Court of Canada, the problem of being understood in the language of one's choice by the highest court in the land persists.
What the Law Society of New Brunswick proposes may seem like an interim measure, but in fact, we view this recommendation as a long-term solution to the problem all those who support this bill have attempted to address. Litigants, lawyers and judges all want a fair solution that addresses the needs of litigants. The Law Society of New Brunswick's recommendation is therefore to require that all Supreme Court justices presiding understand the official language of proceedings or both official languages if both are used in proceedings.
Under the Supreme Court Act the quorum for hearings before the Supreme Court of Canada is of five judges. By immediately enacting what we are suggesting as a legislative change, during hearings the understanding of one of the two official languages used in the proceeding would be required. This requirement would not in any way negatively affect the operations of the Supreme Court of Canada and would immediately serve to address the problem. Indeed, it would mean that litigants could immediately be heard and understood by the Supreme Court of Canada.
On page 3 of our brief you will find the proposed amendment. Rather than amending section 5 of the Supreme Court of Canada Act, there would be an amendment to section 28, regarding the inability for judges to sit in some cases, by adding two paragraphs specifying that in order to hear a proceeding, all judges on the Supreme Court of Canada must understand the language of the proceeding.
I am prepared to entertain your questions.
I thank you for your attention.