Official Languages Committee on April 4th, 2017

[Claudia P. Prémont]

I believe the other regional bars support the Bar of Montreal's position, but feel less affected by the issue. As I told you, currently an agreement in principle exists, so proceedings won't be initiated in the short term. However, if proceedings were initiated, the Barreau du Québec would be a joint applicant.

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

It will be interesting to see how this ends.

I want to talk about the legal terminology.

I'm from a common law country, or province rather—

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

Let's say that I'm from a part of the country where common law is practiced in French. I'm proud of having attended the first university on earth where common law was taught in French. It was a major challenge to create the new terminology, eliminate the anglicisms and establish our own vocabulary.

I imagine that, in Quebec, you experienced exactly the same situation when translating the Civil Code into English. How is this work done? For example, do you have key organizations that are similar to the Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques in Moncton, New Brunswick?

[Claudia P. Prémont]

No.

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

They don't exist. So you don't have an elite group of translators to do this work.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

No. We would very much like to draw them to Quebec, but I think it's harder for us.

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

Sub-contracts should be awarded to New Brunswick.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

Seriously, it's a challenge. There's a shortage of jurisprudence translation.

I know the funding isn't available. By the way, I want to know whether there's currently a provincial contribution or initiative to fund the translation of Quebec jurisprudence. Does the Quebec government fund the translation or does it rely only on federal money?

[Claudia P. Prémont]

The SOQUIJ is subsidized, paid for and funded by the Quebec government.

[Sylvie Champagne]

It's a Crown corporation.

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

Okay.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

There already is one. However, since the resources are insufficient, not enough decisions are translated.

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

Do you know how the process works in the other provinces that translate their jurisprudence and legislation, such as Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick? Pardon my ignorance, but I want to know how this is funded.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

Honestly, we don't have this information. I asked Ms. Champagne, when we were waiting earlier, whether we had this information. Unfortunately, we don't have it. I don't know whether the committee has obtained it, but I can't answer your question.

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

It's true that the untranslated decisions are missing from Canadian jurisprudence. When I was practicing, I was one of the rare lawyers in Canada who skimmed through Quebec jurisprudence to obtain decisions in French. I did the opposite of what Canadian lawyers generally did.

In short, even if the different levels of government had a burst of generosity and expressed the desire to fund the translation of all the Quebec jurisprudence, the fact remains that no centre specializes in the legal terminology generated by the Civil Code. Is that correct?

[Claudia P. Prémont]

There's no specialized centre.

At this time, the SOQUIJ does have lawyers who, in my view, do excellent legal translation work. However, we don't have a centre like the one in Moncton. We don't have that.

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

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Arseneault.

We'll continue with Paul Lefebvre.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Prémont and Ms. Champagne, welcome to my province of Ontario.

I'm also a lawyer in Ontario. I simply want to understand. In Quebec, bills are adopted in French, then translated. Is that how the process works? Texts are translated afterward, and they may contain errors.

[Claudia P. Prémont]

No. In fact, we don't really agree on how the process works exactly.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I want to understand better. It's important.

[Sylvie Champagne]

The bills are available in both languages. The parliamentary commissions study them, and the commissions often make amendments. The amendments aren't always available in both languages. However, when the bill is passed, the version in both languages is passed.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

I understand.

You also mentioned that errors sometimes occur. In the past, errors were made in the translation of legislation, and these errors took years to correct. Has this caused problems? When legislation is first written in French then translated into English, the English version may contain errors. Do you think this has caused problems in certain cases where people relied on the English interpretation of the legislation?