PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
“In Quebec, each person who addresses a court – accused, witness, lawyer, judge – can use French or English, according to his preference”, writes our editorialist.
We thought that Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette had heard reason. That his silence following the Superior Court’s decision in connection with the hiring of English-speaking provincial judges meant that he had taken note of the words of Judge Christian Immer. In his judgment rendered last month, the magistrate ruled that the minister’s interference in the management of the Court of Quebec was “illegal”.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Recall that the chief judge of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau, wanted to require the mastery of English from candidates for the judiciary in certain districts. Although he was informed of this request, Minister Jolin-Barrette nevertheless posted notices of competition for provincial judge positions without any mention of language requirements.
The Superior Court declares that he had no right to do so. To be able to do that, he has to change the law.
This is the path chosen by the minister, who is responding these days with an amendment to Bill 96, an amendment that clarifies the regulations on the procedure for selecting judges. And put a spoke in the wheels of the Chief Justice by forcing her to justify her language needs. The chief judge wants to hire a magistrate who speaks English in the district of Longueuil? It will have to demonstrate that this need is necessary and reasonable based on two criteria: the number of available judges who can work in both languages, and the number of hearings held in English. It is the minister who will decide in the end.
It looks strangely like a show of force when in normal times, this kind of decision should have been taken after consultation, in all collegiality between the two parties. But there is such animosity between the chief justice and the minister that any discussion seems impossible.
This isn’t the first time these two have faced off. We have already written about their spat over the creation of a specialized court for sexual and domestic violence. The tribunal will finally see the light of day, but the road to get there has been arduous.
PHOTO ANDRÉ PICHETTE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Lucie Rondeau, Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec
This time, the Minister of Justice is playing a funny game. He is putting on his hat as minister responsible for the French language to contradict Chief Justice Rondeau. It is in the name of the defense of French that he interferes in the management of the Court of Quebec.
But is it really on the nail of the bilingualism of the judges that it is necessary to type to make the promotion of French?
In Quebec, each person who addresses a court – accused, witness, lawyer, judge – can use French or English, according to their preference. It is a right enshrined in the Constitution. When a judge is unable to hear a trial in English, an interpreter must be found, who is not always available. And even with an interpreter, the judge must still read texts, requests, case law. In the end, if he is unable to do so, his workload will be divided among his bilingual colleagues.
It is the chief judge who evaluates all of this, who assigns the judges, allocates the resources and manages her Court. And if the legal process is slowed down, it is she who will be accountable.
Requiring English proficiency from a future judge is not excessive.
Business law, constitutional law, certain Supreme Court rulings dating from before the 1970s… these are just a few examples where a lawyer must have a knowledge of English to consult documents. And anyone who studied law has had to read and understand texts in English during their university career.
Minister Jolin-Barrette’s response is all the more surprising given that the new Francophonie policy unveiled by the Minister of Canadian Relations and the Canadian Francophonie, Sonia LeBel, last Sunday emphasizes the rights of Francophone minorities outside Quebec. Minorities fighting, among other things, for the right to receive a trial in their language…
In all this affair, we sadly seem to forget the first concerned: the litigants. Did we think for a moment of the citizen who finds himself before the courts? The stress is already immense, is it too much to ask that he be greeted by someone who speaks his language, without the interference of an interpreter? That the judge listening to him be able to understand him and listen to him with empathy? That he feels like he got treated fairly, even though he speaks English?
It is this concern that should guide the decisions of the Minister of Justice.