A bill passed by the Canadian Senate has made the Supreme Court officially bilingual. But the new law has provoked harsh criticisms.
The newly enacted Bill C-232, approved by the Senate last month, means that all future appointees as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada will have to be fluent in both English and French.
The legislation was proposed by New Brunswick MP Yvon Godin, who pointed to a legal error in which a name was translated from French to English as "Mr Five O'Clock" as evidence that translation and interpretation were inadequate in the courts.
Proponents of the bill say that the measure ensures justice is served, since no litigant's chances will be prejudiced by a judge who needs an interpreter.
Liberal Senator Claudette Tardiff (Alberta) said that "interpretation introduces a margin of error and a counsel's case could be damaged."
However, critics – including many lawyers – say the bill makes language a more important factor than competency.
Writing in the Edmonton Journal, Lorne Guntner said that "the number of English Canadians who possess the language skills necessary for selection to the highest court would be a tiny fraction of one per cent."
Only 10 percent of English-speaking Canadians are fluent in French.
"The requirement should be competency, to the exclusion of almost everything else," former justice John Major told The Canadian Press. "I don't know where you're going to find both competency and fluency in places like Vancouver and Calgary and Edmonton."
He described the bill as "pandering."
14 June 2010
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