Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses very much for being here this morning.
In the current study, we are dealing with two extremely important things. Unfortunately, I have the impression that there is one element that tends to take precedence over the other. I am talking about the appointment of bilingual judges to the Supreme Court. I believe that the issue of access to justice in both official languages in Canada is as important as, if not more so, than the appointment of bilingual judges. Perhaps I should say that the two subjects are of equal importance. The matter of appointing judges is often raised, while in reality the biggest work to be done is to make justice accessible in official language minority communities. My first set of questions will touch on that, because I really think we need to get a little more involved.
So far, the witnesses we have received felt that one of the major issues was financial resources. Indeed, there is not enough money to have common law and civil law decisions translated and made available in all the provinces. Such translations would make it possible, for example, to make case law accessible to everyone, across Canada.
We talk about having equal access to justice in both official languages in Canada, but we are far, far from it. Has there been an analysis or a study that could induce the government or governments to inject the necessary funds? Has anyone assessed how much money would be needed to make a practically instantaneous translation of the judgments so that they are accessible across the profession?