Official Languages Committee on April 4th, 2017

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We'll take a break for a few minutes. There seems to be microphone issues.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

The meeting is resumed.

I want to let the committee members know they each have four minutes to ask questions.

We'll start with Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Prémont and Ms. Champagne, I want to know whether you were consulted regarding the budget that just came out. The budget includes two million dollars over two years to improve the English and French capacity of federal courts.

Were people from Quebec, in particular the members of the bar, consulted?

[Claudia P. Prémont]

No.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Two million dollars is being provided over two years. However, unless I'm mistaken, the Québec Superior Court and Québec Court of Appeal won't receive anything from the federal government to translate landmark decisions.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

This is indeed true for Superior Court and Court of Appeal decisions.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

In other words, the budget doesn't provide anything to improve the translation of our francophone jurisprudence in Quebec.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Indeed.

In fact, some federal courts do sit in Quebec, but we need to see how much Quebec will benefit from the funding.

That said, the funding doesn't target anything related to the Court of Appeal and the Superior Court.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

The SOQUIJ last received funding from about 2010 to 2012. It was a one-time payment. The SOQUIJ hasn't received anything since then.

[Sylvie Champagne]

It was in 2013-14, and the amount was $50,000.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

I think the amount was $200,000 for the first two years, then it went down to $70,000, and then $50,000.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Was it beneficial for the translation of Quebec jurisprudence and decisions?

[Claudia P. Prémont]

You can read in our brief that the $200,000 grant helped us double the translation capacity.

Isn't that true, Ms. Champagne?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

So, part of the 2 million dollars should be allocated to the SOQUIJ. That may be one of your recommendations.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Yes. That's what we recommend.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

We spoke earlier about the Supreme Court, but I want to talk a bit about the superior courts.

There has been a small policy change regarding superior courts. I don't know whether you're aware of the recent change in the bilingual capacity of superior courts.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Are we talking about functional bilingualism?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

It concerns bilingualism and the assessment of judges. It relates to the 2013 report of the official languages commissioners of Ontario, Canada and New Brunswick regarding access to justice in superior courts. The report noted that it wasn't right that judges could call themselves bilingual without undergoing an assessment. The judges self-assess their language skills. In some cases, they underestimate themselves, and in other cases, they overestimate themselves. This causes problems with access to justice in both official languages. According to a new policy adopted recently, an assessment can be conducted when necessary.

If you're aware of this new policy, I want to know what you think about it.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

As far as I know, we haven't commented specifically on this change.

As we said here, we think bilingualism is necessary for superior courts in certain regions. For some other regions, bilingualism can always be an asset, obviously. A number of Superior Court judges are perfectly bilingual, but in some regions of Quebec, the judge doesn't need to be bilingual.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

We'll now move on to the next speaker.

Mr. Arseneault, you have the floor.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, I want to thank Ms. Champagne and Ms. Prémont for being here.

The Barreau du Québec considers that Québec has, at the very least, the constitutional obligation to translate its bills before voting on them.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Yes.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

However, unless I'm mistaken, this procedure isn't followed.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Obviously, a court didn't make this decision. The Quebec government says its process fulfills its constitutional obligations. However, at this time, the Bar of Montreal says otherwise.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Do the various regional bars agree on the matter?