Official Languages committee  I would go even further. I realize we aren't there, but it's false to think that civil law and common law have no bearing on one another.

Official Languages committee  You are a lawyer, but those who aren't might be under the impression that some sort of wall separates the two and that no attention is paid to what happens on the other side, but that's not the case. Judges pay a lot of attention, if only when assessing damages. Concepts rooted i

Official Languages committee  The Société québécoise d'information juridique.

Official Languages committee  I don't know.

Official Languages committee  I don't want to say it's the unfortunate rule of three, but we translate about 75 judgments a year. The $200,000 in funding made it possible to translate 80 more judgments. Considering that judges in Quebec issue some 22,000 decisions a year—

Official Languages committee  It's hard to say exactly how much because it depends on the number of pages we are talking about. Court of Appeal judgments are usually lengthier than those of administrative tribunals.

Official Languages committee  That's an excellent question. In an ideal world, all the Court of Appeal judgments, at least, would be translated. The mere fact that these cases have made it to the Court of Appeal means they carry a certain degree of importance. Three, sometimes five, judges have considered th

Official Languages committee  I'm glad I don't have to answer that.

Official Languages committee  It cuts both ways. We are here today to shine a spotlight on the situation in Quebec, but I think you need to look at the big picture as well. Does every jurisdiction in Canada go to the trouble of translating its judgments to make sure the case law is accessible to Quebec, New

Official Languages committee  I understood what you meant perfectly, but I was careful not to tread on political ground.

Official Languages committee  Put yourself in the shoes of the chief justice of the Court of Appeal; imagine that, for every batch of 100 judgments, you had to choose one to be translated. That's unacceptable in our view. There is no way that only one out of every 100 Court of Appeal judgments is of sufficien

Official Languages committee  We're going to invite you to our next meeting with Quebec's justice minister. You might be able to help us.

Justice committee  Mr. Chair, former minister of justice, members of the committee, thank you. The Barreau du Québec is the professional body that represents 26,000 lawyers in Quebec. Its mandate is to protect the public, in particular by governing the legal profession. Public protection also incl

Justice committee  No. First I would be very glad if politicians would campaign to give more money to lawyers, but I don't think that's going to be the case in the near future.

Justice committee  The competition has been great in Quebec because it has enabled the public system and the private system to be efficient. The goal that was set at the outset of the regime in 1972 was to enable private lawyers to continue to do this mandate for the public body—not taking care of