Thank you.
Since spring 2011, over 20 legal language education sessions have been provided. More than 100 judges from all Canadian provinces and territories have come to either the Caraquet region, in the Acadian Peninsula, for French sessions, or to the Saint Andrews region for English sessions. In addition, the teaching teams consist of about 40 judges and lawyers.
The program is based in two welcoming New Brunswick communities that are proud to share their culture. Along with the formal educational activities, other activities involve interacting with the community. These activities include quiz rallies, the creation of mini-documentaries, or “murder mystery” nights. We're only limited by our imagination, and the goal is always the same. We want to create opportunities for communication.
We must also mention the involvement of the legal community and the RCMP. They enhance the education sessions by participating in various exercises, such as mock trials. In terms of numbers since the start of the program, this community effort has involved over 150 community volunteers, about 20 lawyers, a little over 20 RCMP officers, approximately 40 actors, and more than 55 artists.
Two French and two English sessions are held each year. These sessions have had a significant economic impact on the regions concerned, especially since they take place outside the peak tourist season.
Our next challenge is to run other activities between the sessions to maintain the skills acquired and to provide ongoing training. We're exploring technological platforms to make tools for mentoring or tutoring programs available online. Using these new technologies, we also want to create a virtual community with all the judges who participate in our sessions. We want a Canada-wide network of knowledge sharing so that judges from the two language communities can help each other.