Standing Committee on Official Languages

Comité permanent des langues officielles

For immediate release

Ottawa, December 12, 2017 -

On 12 December 2017, the Honourable Denis Paradis, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages, tabled a report entitled Ensuring Justice is Done in Both Official Languages.

The report contains ten recommendations, including one regarding the language skills of Supreme Court of Canada appointees.

The Committee also examined the Department of Justice’s investments to improve access to justice in both official languages and finds that the Department should expand the scope of its support programs to build bilingual capacity at all levels of the justice system.

In recent years, the Department has focussed on criminal law: “The Department’s scope must be expanded to include other areas. The example given in the report is family law, including the application of the Divorce Act,” Mr. Paradis noted.

The Committee also believes that the federal government can build Canada’s legal corpus by supporting the translation of more provincial and territorial superior court judgments, especially those of Quebec. The Committee believes that the government must take action, since this is an official language issue, and even one of legal culture.

The Committee was also critical of the fact that none of the commitments in the Action Plan – Enhancing the Bilingual Capacity of the Superior Court Judiciary, which was released by the Department of Justice on 25 September 2017, involve official language minority communities (OLMCs). “The Department of Justice must promote the expertise that has been developed by OLMC organizations and networks working in the field of justice,” said Denis Paradis. “The Committee therefore recommends that OLMCs be involved in the development of a justice system in which everyone is able to receive services of equal quality in the official language of their choice.”

The report can be consulted on the Committee’s web page on the Parliament of Canada website at http://www.parl.gc.ca/LANG-e. Individuals who cannot access the electronic version can obtain a paper copy of the report from the Committee Clerk.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages is composed of 11 members. The Chair is the Hon. Denis Paradis (Brome—Missisquoi) and the vice chairs are Alupa Clarke (Beauport—Limoilou) and François Choquette (Drummond). The other members are René Arseneault (Madawaska—Restigouche), Sean Casey (Charlottetown), Bernard Généreux (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup), Stephanie Kusie (Calgary Midnapore), Linda Lapointe (Rivière-des-Mille-Îles), Paul Lefebvre (Sudbury), Darrell Samson (Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook) and Dan Vandal (Saint-Boniface—Saint-Vital).