Yvon Godin bill goes to the Senate

OTTAWA – The bill of New Democrat Party MP Yvon Godin (Acadie–Bathurst), which makes bilingualism a requirement for the appointment of Supreme Court judges, passed a crucial hurdle this week in the House of Commons.

“I’m thrilled that this bill passed third reading in the House of Commons,” said Godin. “Once it is passed by the Senate, this legislation will represent an important step in the history of Canada’s official languages.” Bill C-232 requires that future Supreme Court judges be bilingual.

“The statutes of Canada are drafted in parallel in both official languages and neither version takes precedence over the other. It is unthinkable that a judge in our nation’s highest court would have to rely on a translation to understand one of the two versions of the law,” said Godin. “It’s a matter of competency.”

On Wednesday, the bill passed third reading. All Conservative MPs present voted against the bill, including the Conservative MPs from Quebec and the ones from New Brunswick, Canada’s only officially bilingual province. “I find it deplorable that the members of the government voted as a block against this bill, but I’m not surprised. “This government spends its time trumpeting its pro-bilingualism policy, but in reality it does nothing for Canada’s official languages,” said Godin. “On the contrary, the situation has only gotten worse since the Conservatives came to power.”

The bill will now be examined by the Senate. The Honourable Claudette Tardif, Liberal Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition in the Senate, who has agreed to serve as spokesperson for Bill C-232, stated: “It is very important that justices appointed to the Supreme Court are bilingual so that all Canadians, whether Anglophone or Francophone, are treated equally and fairly.”