Official Languages committee  Everything would have been concluded at that stage.

Official Languages committee  If the government loses in the first instance, it decides whether or not to appeal the ruling. Any party in a court proceeding has the right to decide to appeal a ruling. In some respects, this enables communities to have issues clarified by the highest court in the land. Accordingly, it is important to monitor this process.

Official Languages committee  The case was heard by the Federal Appeal Court and it is now before the Supreme Court.

Official Languages committee  I'm not sure that I understood the question specifically. However, if you are referring to the promotion of legal proceedings whose objective is not necessarily to clarify or advance language rights, I believe that the federal government would find itself, should it support such cases, in a situation where it would be in violation of its own Official Languages Act, which states, in Part V, that the government must have affirmative action programs to promote the development of francophone minorities.

Official Languages committee  Providing legal aid for criminal cases does not do much in terms of helping build very strong schools under section 23. As far as section 24 is concerned, we are just starting to deal with the question now, further to the Doucet-Boudreau decision. I had an opportunity to be involved in this case as well.

Official Languages committee  As far as language rights are concerned, this still has to be developed, setting aside the Doucet-Boudreau decision, even though we have made tremendous progress.

Official Languages committee  Of course, the government is represented by its lawyers.

Official Languages committee  In fact, I'm doing this work pro bono. I presume that's not the case for the government lawyers.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Murphy would certainly like to hear that, because I sued him. I'd really like to be a millionaire, but that's not the case. As I said earlier, these cases are very expensive.

Official Languages committee  Since the reinstatement of the program, the most important decisions on language matters that come to mind are the following: Beaulac, Arsenault-Cameron, Solsky, Boudreau-Doucet, Charlebois, Montfort and Donnie Doucet.

Official Languages committee  It would seem not. The number of pages filled and the time dedicated to bringing these files before the Supreme Court showed that we clearly needed these rulings.

Official Languages committee  —we would only have the precedents that pre-dated the program.

Official Languages committee  I admit that well-established law firms often have a great deal of difficulty dealing with cases funded by the Court Challenges Program, because of the rates they charge.

Official Languages committee  I don't know a single lawyer who became a millionaire because of the Court Challenges Program.

Official Languages committee  It depends on the type of Charter rights involved, whether individual rights collective rights. When you open a school in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, it is not just for Ms. Arsenault-Cameron. The whole community benefits.