Thank you.
As a lawyer, as someone whose mother tongue was French and who became anglicized, if I can call it that, through the then-religious-based school boards in Quebec; as someone who has presided over public inquiries throughout the province of Quebec—probably in the nature of 30 to 50 over which I actually presided and an additional, equal number in which I was part of the bench, as part of the Quebec Police Commission—I can tell you that the colleagues with whom I sat who were unable to hear the witnesses who were testifying in English or hear the arguments of the lawyers who were presenting them in examination or cross-examinations without the filter of translation, and we had excellent translation as well, were quite envious. That's the first thing.
Second, I repeat and support what Mr. Comartin had to say: that our primary interest here is our citizenry. Our citizenry has the right to expect that their case and their documents will be understood in whichever official language they were submitted in, and that whoever is adjudicating will not require the filter of translation in order to understand those documents in their original language.
Finally, I'd like to say that if we truly believe in bilingualism; if we truly believe in the official languages here in Canada, then there is no better symbol or sign that can be swept across this country to all of our citizenry—those who are already breathing on this earth and those who are to come in the future—who aspire to a career in the legal profession and may at some point develop an aspiration to the highest court of the land, than to encourage them and encourage their parents to encourage them to learn both official languages and to become proficient enough in the language that is not their mother tongue to be able to actually preside without translation.
I support Mr. Godin's private member's bill wholeheartedly. I will be voting in favour of it and would encourage all of my colleagues to do so.
Thank you.