Canadian Heritage committee  That's what we said, because we started in 1994.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I said 1994.

Canadian Heritage committee  First, let us say that we are Canadians. As Canadians, we value the Parliament of Canada and the rights and the powers it has to make laws. That's why we have things like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If we had no parliamentary system and no way of ensuring that these types

Canadian Heritage committee  The new Court Challenges Program goes back to 1994. They may have applied before that. However, since 1994, they have not made any application.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know if this applies to them all, but during the last round, when our program was eliminated, other programs were as well. I presume that our experience is no different than what has happened in the past.

Canadian Heritage committee  You have asked a question that is quite broad and you have asked for a generalization of what we're doing. Basically, we have to realize that there are rights that have been recognized by the charter, and this has value for Canadian society. I would even say it probably makes us

Canadian Heritage committee  Not only that, but what's more, we were not given any report that found that our program failed to provide taxpayers with value for their money.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can assure you of that. As a matter of fact, the program plays no role whatsoever in the choice of counsel. The applicants are the ones who choose the lawyers they are going to work with. We fund cases, and whether or not there is any political affiliation is none of our concer

Canadian Heritage committee  To conclude, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the board of directors and members of the program, we ask that the decision to abolish the Court Challenges Program be reversed. In the name of access to justice, we ask this committee to call for the full restoration of funding to the Cour

Canadian Heritage committee  I would also like to ask the executive director of the program to touch on some of the questions raised by members of the committee and how we believe these should be dealt with.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would first like to introduce a member of the Board of Directors of the Court Challenges Program of Canada, Ms. Bonnie Morton, and the Executive Director of the program, Mr. Noël Badiou. I'd like to thank the members of the committee for having us he