Official Languages committee  I think it's easy for someone to call themselves bilingual. Take, for example, a judge who is doing some shopping over at the Rideau Centre; they might consider themselves bilingual if they are able to converse with the sales clerk or someone else and have that person understand

Official Languages committee  That depends on how you define “functional”. I would agree with you if “functionally bilingual” meant someone who could function fluently in a courtroom in both languages.

Official Languages committee  One of the obstacles is the lack of training or education sessions in-between the longer training sessions and the tutoring. In terms of being able to function in a second language, especially in a legal setting, you can appreciate that if you only go to formal training sessions

Official Languages committee  I can't comment on the availability of judges, but I will say that these tools will make it possible to determine how many of them have the required language proficiency.

Official Languages committee  I think the government needs to move away from self-assessment. In order to benefit from a sufficient pool of judges with the proficiency to deal with legal matters in both languages, it is necessary to adopt a formal assessment process, as opposed to self-assessment.

Official Languages committee  A wide range of language training programs are available to superior court judges.

Official Languages committee  I don't think the learning content is the same as ours.

Official Languages committee  We have approached a number of provincial chief justices. We ask to speak with them so we can determine how many judges would be interested in the training we offer. We advertise the program through the Canadian Judicial Council. Obviously, there are many other ways to promote it

Official Languages committee  Calling yourself bilingual is one thing, but being able to discuss legal matters in a courtroom is another. Instead of talking about bilingual proficiency, I prefer to talk about language proficiency, which is what the tests measure.

Official Languages committee  It is a self-declaration.

Official Languages committee  I can talk a bit about that.

Official Languages committee  Currently, in the provincial appointment process in New Brunswick, the test isn't mandatory or formally recognized. We're not at the point of requiring a test.

Official Languages committee  To give context to Mr. Roy's remarks, I'll highlight some components of our training approach. The Centre canadien du français juridique prepares and delivers the program's educational content, in cooperation with the teams of trainers, who deliver the education session content.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to appear before the committee as part of the study of the full implementation of the Official Languages Act. We appreciate the opportunity to share the activities implemented based our vision for achieving the ideal in t