Official Languages committee  Of course. My name is Jacques Fournier, and I am the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Québec. This is my third appearance before the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I met with you a year and a half ago. I also appeared nearly 20 years ago when your committee ch

Official Languages committee  You have grasped what I said exactly. If I may, I will add a comment. Not only do the judgments go unread by our colleagues in other provinces because of the language barrier, but the doctrine is not influenced either. You know that university professors teach what they underst

Official Languages committee  No. However, let me give you the example of the reference to the Quebec court of appeal of the federal plan for a national securities commission. It was a few years ago now. Knowing that the decision was going to be published nationally, the court of appeal delayed the publicatio

Official Languages committee  Mr. Arseneault, we have a really hard time exerting pressure to get funding. The number of translations done is very limited. Exerting pressure so that all judgments can be translated is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Official Languages committee  Do you know how many court of appeal judgments we have in the province of Quebec?

Official Languages committee  The answer is 1,600 judgments. I admire the way New Brunswick goes about it. So please don't blame me.

Official Languages committee  The fact remains that, given the number of appeals here, we cannot require it; it will not work. However, I have been waving the flag for years, saying that what we have to do is find a way to export the great product we make here, at least in the fields of public and federal la

Official Languages committee  Certainly, it has to be happening elsewhere. I am thinking about European states that are trilingual. However, right now, the issue is money. It can easily be done, but it needs a little funding. SOQUIJ exists and has the equipment. But it has to get bigger because what is being

Official Languages committee  No. Honestly, it would be a guessing game and my answer might mislead you. The amount is to the tune of a few million dollars, but I don't know the number exactly.

Official Languages committee  There are some. That's what I was telling Mr. Arseneault earlier. On occasion, the Court of Appeal will prepare its ruling in both languages, but that's still not the common practice. SOQUIJ will soon take the lead in the area. The translation of a decision is often requested

Official Languages committee  Now, thanks to computers, almost everything is published. However, until perhaps 15 or 20 years ago, committees used to oversee what was being published. SOQUIJ had one. It was an editorial committee whose mandate was to check what was being published and to determine what was of

Official Languages committee  Just a moment, we have to be careful. SOQUIJ translates rulings, but that's a small part of its mission. SOQUIJ's mission is really to gather case law, to determine which judgments or cases, if dealing with appeal courts, are more important, to make summaries and to publish them

Official Languages committee  An editorial committee does that.

Official Languages committee  Yes.

Official Languages committee  No.