It is not only perfectly normal, it is responsible to require certification to confirm that those who think or say that they can do something actually can do it. As an example, I am not allowed to drive an 18-wheeler on the highway without a license, and that is a good thing. I have to prove to the state that I am capable of driving at 100 km per hour. I have no business being a member of the Royal 22nd Regiment if I cannot express myself well enough in French for my shell to go where my fellow soldiers tell me it is supposed to go. Likewise, I should not be a federal public servant providing front-line services if I do not have an exemption or the highest classification for service.
Self-assessment does not work. I go much further on this than the FAJEF, whose position is too moderate and probably too generous towards the government. Here's why.
I do not want to be a judge, but if I did, I would fill in the form that every judge has to complete. Here is one of the questions on language:
Without further training, are you able to understand oral submissions in court in:
English:
French:
It makes no sense that candidates for the Court of Queen's Bench in Alberta or the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia do a language self-assessment. I really want Justices Rowe, Rothstein et al to meet a parliamentary committee, but it is too late. We are not going to test anyone's language ability on CPAC once a candidate has been officially announced. We do it with public servants and with members of the Royal 22nd Regiment, and we should also do it with judges, whether at the Supreme Court of Canada or elsewhere.