Official Languages committee  Translators can develop terminological expertise. However, they also need to know what to look for in order for the decisions to be well translated.

Official Languages committee  Your colleague was mistaken. The Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques has been part of the University of Moncton’s faculty of law since 1979. I am not the centre's founder.

Official Languages committee  Those are the three themes that I looked at, but I would like to look beyond translation and also consider the federal government's obligations and what methods it could use to ensure that its communication with the public fully respects the constitutional and legislative obligations.

Official Languages committee  I worked very closely with the Centre de traduction et de terminologie juridiques or the CTTJ. The CTTJ created the French terminology for common law. When the University of Moncton opened its law faculty, that terminology did not exist in French. English had been used in common law for many years.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely.

Official Languages committee  I completely agree with that. It must be used as a comprehension tool. I often get texts from colleagues in Germany or elsewhere. I use translation tools to understand what they are saying. However, I would never dream of using such a tool to produce texts to send to the public or to respond to my colleagues.

Official Languages committee  Thank you.

Official Languages committee  I find that dynamic quite worrisome. I will use the example of the translation of court decisions. The federal government has an obligation to translate court decisions. Obviously, as a francophone lawyer, I want to ensure that the translation of a decision is done by language professionals, because language is very important in the legal world.

Official Languages committee  Earlier, I talked about the message that the federal government was sending. My concern is that this message encourages New Brunswick to adopt the same approach and that the quality of the texts will suffer. With respect to the task force, I think it should include language and translation experts.

Official Languages committee  The Official Languages Act makes it clear that both official languages are equal. The equality of both languages is the basic principle or foundation of the Official Languages Act and the constitutional provisions, such as section 16 of the charter. Equality does not mean that one group is treated better than the other.

Official Languages committee  There is always a debate on the meaning of linguistic duality. I know that the federal government uses the expression “linguistic duality” to refer to bilingualism and the two official languages. In New Brunswick, linguistic duality also has a political and administrative meaning, in that it designates linguistically homogeneous structures or structures that enable both linguistic communities to manage matters that affect them.

Official Languages committee  There you have it, in 30 seconds.

Official Languages committee  Your question has several components. With respect to the consultation of groups from outside Canada, we know that there are people who are very interested in translation in Europe and the United States, but not in the same context. They do not even have the same constitutional and legislative framework as we have in Canada.

Official Languages committee  I have concerns about the message being sent to the public and to other outside institutions. We are talking about a federal institution that has always been the authority on Canada's language policy, and I worry that it is sending a message to the private sector and to other provincial governments, especially New Brunswick, that they can meet their language obligations through the use of a translation tool.

Official Languages committee  I am not sure I understand the question.