Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles for his question. Richard Mongeau was recently—on January 13—appointed to the Superior Court of Quebec. He is a 54-year-old lawyer who was called to the Quebec bar in 1971 and who has a long and distinguished record.
From 1973 to 1976 he was chief of staff to Quebec's former minister of social affairs, Claude Forget. In order to make it into the magnificent Liberal Party of Canada, one must first go through the training school of the Liberal Party of Quebec.
In 1977 he set up a law firm and quickly obtained business from the federal government, including a case defending RCMP officers accused of various crimes: theft of PQ lists, setting fire to a barn, theft of dynamite. We remember: it made the headlines at the time. He was hired to represent RCMP officers before two commissions of inquiry and before the criminal court as well. From 1993 to 1999 he defended André Lizotte against the Royal Bank. He is a reputable and accomplished lawyer. After 1998 he became the federal negotiator with the Cree.
After the Oka crisis, the federal government appointed lawyer Michel Robert, who had been president of the Liberal Party of Canada, to head up a commission of inquiry into the entire Oka incident.