Evidence of meeting #35 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was quebec.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
I'm sorry, but I'm not so sure you understood what I meant.
Vice-President, Barreau du Québec
I understood what you meant perfectly, but I was careful not to tread on political ground.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
Fine, I understand.
I'm not saying all of Quebec's 22,000 judgments should be translated. It seems to me, however, that there is a responsibility to see to the translation of any judgment that might have a significant impact on Canadian case law, which includes Quebec case law, or even on case law around the world. That ensures that legal experts continue to advance and shape case law, thereby helping society develop.
Vice-President, Barreau du Québec
Put yourself in the shoes of the chief justice of the Court of Appeal; imagine that, for every batch of 100 judgments, you had to choose one to be translated. That's unacceptable in our view. There is no way that only one out of every 100 Court of Appeal judgments is of sufficient interest to be translated.
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
That's exactly the point I'm making. As I see it, the Quebec government should be eager to have more Quebec court judgments translated so that judges, legal experts, and lawyers around the country could use the case law, thereby influencing Canadian society.
Vice-President, Barreau du Québec
We're going to invite you to our next meeting with Quebec's justice minister. You might be able to help us.
Director, Association of English speaking Jurists of Quebec
I agree with you completely, Mr. Samson.
Director, Association of English speaking Jurists of Quebec
Justice is an integral part of society overall. As you said, influencing and shaping justice can only benefit Canadian culture.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
My apologies, Mr. Bloom, but some members have other committee meetings to get to.
On behalf of all the members, thank you kindly, Mr. Aylwin and Mr. Bloom, for your presentations and your time today. We heard you loud and clear.
Thank you very much.
The committee will reconvene Thursday morning.
The meeting is adjourned.