I cannot speak for other departments. Personally, I am not familiar with any court that has claimed to have insufficient judges for a trial to be held in a specific language. I have never heard of that in Canada. Perhaps that is what they were talking about.
As Minister of Official Languages, I tell judges how strongly we should encourage all bilingual lawyers to apply, for one thing, and, for another, encourage those who are not bilingual to make an effort to learn both languages.
Clearly, as you know, there are already free courses for sitting judges. There is also training for others working in the justice system, like police officers and court clerks, as a result of the investment our government has made.
So we are going to continue along those lines, because it helps. One day, perhaps, the time will come when we can say we have more.