I can tell you about the information we collected in the study. We looked at this specifically. We interviewed the chief justices of all the superior courts in the provinces covered by the study. All provinces were not covered, but some Atlantic and western provinces, and Quebec and Ontario, of course, were.
The chief justices told us that exchanges with the Minister of Justice usually took place when an appointment was imminent. Chief justices are asked what their needs are, but they have to be sensitive to linguistic needs. Sometimes the minority community can better identify the barriers or the needs, as you said earlier. For example, in one area, a bilingual judge may retire and another judge has to be appointed to replace him or her. The study spoke of the need to maintain contact between minority communities in the legal system, associations of francophone lawyers outside Quebec and chief justices, who are consulted by the Minister of Justice so that the latter knows in a timely manner what the needs are, when an appointment is imminent. Since not all chief justices are necessarily bilingual, the perspectives of the communities are sometimes necessary so that their needs are made known.