Madam Speaker, I am happy to speak today to affirm this government's commitment to providing access to justice in both official languages.
As we all know, the Government of Canada is strongly committed to enhancing the vitality of English and French linguistic minorities in Canada and fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society, including our justice system.
The member for Gatineau spoke like a good federalist about the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court of Canada.
It is important to point out that the government's position is that bilingualism remains an important criterion in the appointment process. However, it is not and should not be the only factor in the selection of our judges. The primary consideration in all judicial appointments is legal excellence and merit. Other criteria must also be taken into account, such as proficiency in the law, judgment, work habits, writing and communication skills, honesty, integrity, fairness and social awareness.
We also recognize that our courts must be able to provide equal access to justice in both French and English. Our current process allows the government and the judicial advisory committees to take into account the language skills of judicial candidates along with 14 other assessment criteria.
I am confident that the current appointment process was crafted in a way that permits the Minister of Justice to address the need for access to justice in both official languages and to ensure that the federal judiciary linguistic profile provides adequate access to justice in official language minority communities.
Under the current process, before recommending appointments, the minister confers with the chief justice of the relevant court to determine the court's needs, including linguistic capacity. As hon. members are likely aware, a chief justice's primary responsibility is to determine the overall direction of sitting on his or her court and to assign judges to cases. The chief justice strives to ensure that all cases, especially criminal cases, are heard in a timely manner.
The chief justice is, therefore, in an excellent position to understand the needs of the communities served and identify particular needs where vacancies arise. As a result, the minister consults with the chief justice of the court for which a candidate is being considered to determine any particular needs to be addressed, including linguistic capacity.
With a view to improving the pool of bilingual judicial candidates, the government invites the French-speaking jurist associations and their national federation to identify individuals with the necessary qualifications and encourage them to apply, and to share their recommendations with the Minister of Justice.
The minister also welcomes the advice of any group or individual with respect to considerations that should be taken into account when filling current vacancies. It is important to understand that the federal judicial appointments process operates on the basis of detailed personal applications from interested candidates and, as such, relies primarily on a system of self-identification.
The government has appointed more than 200 judges so far to various Canadian courts. The government is extremely proud of the quality of appointments made today to our superior courts across the country. We are also committed to maintaining the highest quality of judicial appointments to ensure that our judiciary continues to enjoy the respect and confidence of all Canadians.