Statement from NDP Leader on Supreme Court Justices

NDP Leader, Jagmeet Singh, issued the following statement regarding linguistic requirements for Supreme Court Justices:

"To clarify, I strongly believe that Supreme Court Justices should be bilingual, so a functional understanding of both official languages. That is the only way to ensure that everyone in Canada can have justice served in one of our two official languages.

We recognise Indigenous rights and they must be defended. The fact is that Indigenous languages have historically been grossly overlooked in our institutions. I am open to hearing suggestions of how to remain fully committed to bilingual judges while supporting the advancement of judges from Indigenous communities.

While we don’t currently have the solution, I believe we can find one by working collaboratively. It’s my sincere hope that we will see, in near future, a Supreme Court Justice from a First Nation, Métis or Inuit background."