OTTAWA – A bill sponsored by New Democrat MP Yvon Godin (Acadie-Bathurst) which requires that judges appointed to the Supreme Court be able to understand English and French passed another Parliamentary hurdle Thursday at the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Bill C-232 will require that, in the future, judges named to the Supreme Court be bilingual.

“Canadian legislation is written in both languages, simultaneously, and no version has precedence over the other. It is therefore unthinkable that a judge of the highest court in the country should use translation to understand one of the two versions of the law,” explained Mr. Godin.

The Bill will now be reintroduced in the House of Commons for the report stage and the third reading. “I’m confident that the Bill will be supported by a majority of MPs,” said Godin. “Once adopted, this law will become an important landmark in the history of Canada’s official languages.”