Official Languages committee  I don't think they will disappear, and I sincerely hope they don't. One of the things that struck me since I have been commissioner is how vital those communities are. Let's compare the current situation with the situation we would have seen 30 years ago. We have established French-language schools and school boards, French-speaking provincial lawyers' and law associations, as well as economic associations in communities.

Official Languages committee  Yes, indeed. What is important—and this is one of the guidelines in the report—is leadership. We have therefore asked the Prime Minister to establish a special ministers' committee and to strengthen the administration of mechanisms through which the issue is coordinated, so that the committee can report to cabinet each year.

Official Languages committee  I don't think we studied that issue closely. However, the commissioner has been expressing some concern about contractors for a long time now. I remember a study on restaurants, where the operators leased the premises. There's also the issue of decentralizing some responsibilities, and that is an issue we raise in our study on changes within the federation.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, the Standing Committee on Official Languages in the other place asked us to examine this issue closely, as you have done here in the House. They have commissioned a study on the impact of horizontality on the decision to transfer the secretariat. After an open competition, the contract was awarded to Professor Donald Savoie, who will be conducting the study.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, I will do as you wish. I can begin with the Olympic Games, if you prefer, or with the annual report. It is up to the committee. I am at your disposal. It is very easy to divide up my presentation.

Official Languages committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of Parliament, and of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, I would like to start by thanking you for inviting me to present my annual report, and to comment on the preparations for the 2010 Olympic Games, which I will do later. When I tabled my first annual report last year, I drew attention to the fact that the government's actions did not reflect its words.

Official Languages committee  I've often told people who complain about linguistic obligations in the public service that, if a young person wants to be a judge, he has to start by going to law school. I don't complain about the fact that I wasn't appointed judge, since I didn't go to law school. Similarly, if you want to become a Supreme Court justice, you should prepare for it.

Official Languages committee  In my view, in a situation where bilingual capacity is a matter of self-assessment by candidates, we can't say that the results are as we would have desired. What is important, I believe—Mr. Chong moreover raised the question—is that, if law schools don't take the importance of the situation into account, we won't have a sufficient pool of lawyers.

Official Languages committee  The purpose of amending the act is to remedy that problem. If I understand correctly, that's Bill C-13. I don't know if it changed between Bill C-23 and the last version of Bill C-13, but it requires that informations be—

Official Languages committee  It would be amended so that everyone is informed of that right.

Official Languages committee  Can I respond to that? I'm not sure that the opinion of a unilingual anglophone judge should necessarily be the determining opinion as to the importance of knowledge of both languages. What former Justice Major said was that he found the interpretation system perfectly adequate, and he praised it.

Official Languages committee  Well, it leapt out at my breakfast table too.

Official Languages committee  I'm going to answer very briefly. I intervened before the courts in the case brought by the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne on the matter of the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program. That was a debate with the government before the courts. I'm not going to repeat all the arguments that we raised in court, but I'm going to hand over to Mr.

Official Languages committee  I'll ask Ms. Tremblay to give you some details on that. For our part, based on the information we've gathered, the federal courts in Quebec pose no problem in that regard. However, there has been a certain amount of discomfort with the provincial courts. Do you want to provide more details?

Official Languages committee  Very briefly, there is an old saying in English that goes: justice delayed is justice denied. This is a principle that has been endorsed a number of times by Canadian courts. The right to have a case heard was recently reinforced in Ontario by the decision in the Belende case.