The case law that has been established over the past 30 years has provided considerable support for the development of the communities. I'm thinking here of section 23 of the charter. Without the Supreme Court's judgment in the Mahe affair, we wouldn't have the school systems that we now have. The same is true of the Beaulac decision, without which we wouldn't have the interpretation that we now enjoy. In many cases, those actions were funded by the court challenges program, at least in part.
Obviously, we very often rely on the courts to decide issues that, for one reason or another, can't be decided by other authorities. In many instances, the courts are extremely important allies for minority communities. That's not the case of the majority. The ability to clarify rights and obligations makes progress possible. When the charter, and its section 23, came into force in 1982, there were no francophone schools in Canada, except in Quebec, obviously. Now there are nearly 150,000 students in a school system that is managed by and for francophones outside Quebec. That's extraordinary progress indeed.
In my province of Manitoba, a reference was made to the Supreme Court in 1985 to determine what Manitoban statutes had to be translated. Once again, it was the Supreme Court that decided the matter. As a result, we in Manitoba now have a right to justice in French. The court challenges program is extremely important for minorities because, in many instances, it's individuals who appear before the courts. I doubt they would get very far without its resources. The court challenges program has always played an extremely important role in the evolution and interpretation of language rights in Canada.