Justice committee  The appeal stage also plays a part, if applicable.

Justice committee  I would just like to point out that Alberta does not have a provincial police force. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police provides law enforcement services there. RCMP representatives are open to discussions with representatives of French-speaking legal professionals. Two years ago

Justice committee  That would be our first recommendation. The violation of the right to be informed of one's language rights should have consequences. If there are no consequences, this will not be an important right for those considering it.

Justice committee  The Criminal Code stipulates that provinces can adopt rules and regulations to ensure the implementation of rights, be it when it comes to part XVII or other parts. The legislation could perhaps specify that, in doing so, the provinces must hold discussions with representatives o

Justice committee  The same goes for training provided to French-speaking legal professionals. The training is not provided in all the provinces, but certain provinces have enough institutions that can help the others. However, there is a problem when it comes to professions, which come under prov

Justice committee  I think post-secondary institutions need to be encouraged to train qualified interpreters for every region of the country. There were unacceptable situations in Alberta where the interpretation was inadequate. When the Alberta Ministry of Justice retains someone to interpret cour

Justice committee  Our final brief will contain 15 or so recommendations. The first is to amend the Criminal Code to set out the consequences of not respecting an accused's right to be informed of his or her rights. A number of things need to be added to that end. The way things are interpreted, a

Justice committee  It should be included. I note that this is one of the two points where I'm concurring with Jonathan Denis, the Minister of Justice for Alberta, who wrote that they are looking at the notice provision as very important; as soon as they know that an accused will be asking to use ei

Justice committee  Sometime in the last century, I used to be president of the previous federal program that was helping minorities. I sat for five years as chairman of the committee of official languages. I replaced Mr. Goldbloom after he was named as official languages commissioner. I replaced hi

Justice committee  The provisions prior to the latest amendments to the Criminal Code required the judge to inform the accused when he or she was not represented by counsel. It became apparent that that wasn't sufficient because, in many cases, counsel for the accused did not inform their client th

Justice committee  I would just like to briefly explain the other caricatures, if I may. Geneviève explained the one that mentions the federal construct—

Justice committee  I want to share an example that shows how the ministry currently interprets French-language forms regarding the Criminal Code. Under the legislation, some forms are provided in both French and English, while others are mentioned but not available in French. At the court service

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and ladies and gentlemen members of the committee. It is as individuals that Geneviève and I have come to meet with the members of the committee, to provide a few examples to illustrate the situation of language rights in Alberta in connection with the Crim