Official Languages Committee on May 11th, 2017

[Denise LeBlanc]

I can't comment on the availability of judges, but I will say that these tools will make it possible to determine how many of them have the required language proficiency.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

What would you recommend the government do to achieve this objective going forward? If you were in the government, what would you want it to do?

[Denise LeBlanc]

I think the government needs to move away from self-assessment. In order to benefit from a sufficient pool of judges with the proficiency to deal with legal matters in both languages, it is necessary to adopt a formal assessment process, as opposed to self-assessment.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

That's great.

Do other institutions in Canada offer this type of training, or is your program the only one of its kind?

[Denise LeBlanc]

A wide range of language training programs are available to superior court judges.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

What about the legal component?

[Denise LeBlanc]

I don't think the learning content is the same as ours.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Given how important bilingual proficiency is at the Supreme Court and superior court levels, you may want to prepare to expand your programming and services.

I have one last question. What more can we do to attract more people from Canada first?

[Denise LeBlanc]

We have approached a number of provincial chief justices. We ask to speak with them so we can determine how many judges would be interested in the training we offer. We advertise the program through the Canadian Judicial Council. Obviously, there are many other ways to promote it. We would be quite open to discussing with you how best to proceed.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Wonderful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Kudos to you. Keep up the great work.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for being so patient.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

Next up, we have Dan Vandal, from Manitoba.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you.

You said you provide assessments for French speakers. Are you able to train them as well, or just assess their proficiency?

[Normand Fortin]

We provide English training in St. Andrews.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Very good.

[Allain Roy]

In fact, we work with the Centre canadien de français juridique.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I see.

Would you mind providing the figures one more time? Do you have participants from Manitoba?

[Allain Roy]

I can provide them to you, yes.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

That's great.

If the government gave you more resources, do you think demand for your services would go up?

[Allain Roy]

Since the new action plan is slated to begin in the next fiscal year, we are once again looking at our services. I believe the Canadian Judicial Council has a committee that deals with language training. We shared some observations with its members and asked for their feedback because they are the ones we serve. Yes, then, it is something we are currently examining.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Very good.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you. I'm going to keep the discussion going.

Good morning and welcome to you all. Thank you for being here.

Earlier, you were talking about expanding your services to people in other areas of the justice system. You work primarily with judges, assessing their proficiency according to the four levels. You hold courtroom simulations with lawyers and police officers. Given your expertise, who else do you think would benefit from your services?

[Normand Fortin]

I can answer that, because, before joining KortoJura, I worked at the Centre canadien de français juridique. I had begun developing the tests, but they needed fine tuning. There is a language proficiency scale for crown attorneys, one for court clerks, and one for judges. It could be expanded to include police officers, specialists in all areas, really.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Our study has focused a lot on the bilingualism and language proficiency of judges, but support staff also play a role. From what you've observed during your simulations—which involve clerks, crown attorneys, and even police officers—is there a need among support staff?