Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee as part of the study of the full implementation of the Official Languages Act. We appreciate the opportunity to share the activities implemented based our vision for achieving the ideal in terms of access to justice in both official languages for individuals subject to trials across Canada.
The activities in question started in 2011, when the Provincial Court of New Brunswick proposed that the Canadian Judicial Council create a language education program for provincially appointed Canadian judges. Justice Yvette Finn was appointed the judge responsible for the program.
This initiative led to a legal language education program that emphasizes the practical aspect and that has a legal language proficiency evaluation component, known as KortoJura.
In January 2017, I took over from Justice Finn as the judge responsible for the program. I'm proud to introduce the people joining me today. Mr. Chair has already introduced them. They are Allain Roy, director general of the education program, and Normand Fortin, a language specialist and the person responsible for the conceptualization and content of the KortoJura evaluation service. Françoise Bonnin is also here today to answer any questions regarding KortoJura.
I'll now give the floor to Mr. Roy, who will provide an overview of the language education sessions.