- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- Bloc Québécois
- Rivière-du-Nord
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 68%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $105,330.31
- Government Page
- Feb/6/24 2:39:24 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all three federalist parties voted against a bilingualism requirement for miscarriage of justice review commissioners. The Liberal parliamentary secretary and the NDP justified dropping the bilingualism requirement by saying it would stand in the way of hiring unilingual French-speaking commissioners. Frankly, unilingual francophones have never benefited from bilingualism taking a backseat, believe me.
Are these parties really saying that it is impossible to find nine competent bilingual jurists out of 40 million Canadians?
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- Jun/16/22 11:51:44 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, I too will ask my colleague a question in French.
I understand that my colleague agrees with me about reviewing the appointment process. We have said it before: The “Liberalist” is appalling. I am not the one who came up with the name, by the way—it was the government. When even the government refers to this list of conditions by that name, we can imagine what impact this can have on the public. This really needs to be addressed quickly.
I would like to know what my colleague thinks about the example from Quebec, the Bastarache commission, during which former justice Bastarache reviewed the appointment process and proposed conditions that are better than those in place at the federal level.
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- Jun/16/22 11:37:59 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, thanks to my colleague, I remember the previous question now. I would say that the biggest challenge is non-partisanship.
Anyway, to answer the question from my colleague from Kelowna—Lake Country, I would say that we do need to appoint an ombudsman. An ombudsman is the guardian and representative of the people. He or she monitors the work of various organizations. It is therefore important. The position is vacant and should be filled. I hope it will be filled soon.
Once again, I must say that, fortunately or unfortunately, I am an eternal optimist, and I always tend to trust people. Sometimes I am disappointed, but until then, I will place my trust in the current government. I will, however, say that it needs to hurry up, because this is urgent. We need to appoint an ombudsman, review the appointment process and respond to what the public is asking for so that we can finally say “mission accomplished”.
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- Jun/16/22 11:36:30 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. Before answering, I would like to congratulate her for making the effort to ask the question in French. I know that it was not easy, and I want her to know that I am very thankful for the effort. It is a mark of respect, and I sincerely thank her.
I was so focused on her language efforts that I forgot her question. Ha, ha!
I do agree that we need to vote in favour of Bill C-9. The appointment process must also be impartial, and it needs a review. That is our job, and we owe it to voters and the entire population to make sure our justice system is non-partisan, effective, professional and reliable.
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- Jun/16/22 11:34:34 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for her question. I totally agree with her.
Indeed, it takes both. We need effective rules of conduct that inspire confidence, a process for reviewing these rules that is just as effective, and an appointment process. All of this must be completely independent of the executive and legislative branches.
In fact, our work is limited to implementing the process, the selection committees and the review panels. That is our job, but once that is done, the system must remain entirely non-partisan. Political partisanship must never influence the appointment of a judge or the sanctions for a judge’s misconduct.
In addition, the review process is also important in ensuring that no unfounded complaints prevent a judge from sitting. This process is essential, and must be absolutely non-partisan.
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- Jun/16/22 11:27:40 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, for years, people have been calling for reforms of the process for reviewing allegations of judicial misconduct, whether the review results in a removal or not. This is not the first time that such a bill has been introduced in the House. The Judicial Council itself has called for this. If we can pass this legislation, it will benefit all stakeholders in the judicial system and all Quebeckers and Canadians. The judicial system is the backbone of any society that wants to live, thrive and evolve in peace. Without a judicial system, it would be total anarchy, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
No one wants to abolish the courts. Everyone wants to be able to have faith that the courts will resolve our disputes. Ideally, it would resolve all of them, and for that to happen, we must appoint judges with spotless records in terms of credibility and professionalism. The first step is to ensure that the appointment process is effective and non-partisan. I will come back to this.
We must also ensure that once a judge is appointed, they are consistently subject to ethical conduct rules that are acceptable to everyone involved. Finally, we must ensure that, in cases of misconduct, there is a reliable and effective process for reviewing and, where appropriate, fairly sanctioning the conduct of the party at fault.
We have to admit that the review process in place is among the best in the world. We are not starting from scratch, and that is a good thing. Having myself participated in discussions with bar associations in other jurisdictions in Europe and elsewhere, I can say that what we have here in Quebec and Canada is the envy of many other democratic societies.
That being said, recent examples have shown that we need to think about a new and improved process that would prevent abuses. Having a process that takes years before all reviews and appeals have been exhausted, while the principal continues to receive a salary and benefits—often including a generous pension fund—and these costs are assumed by the public, certainly does not help boost confidence in the judicial system.
Of course, it is just as important that judges who are the subject of a complaint can express their point of view, defend themselves and exercise their rights just like any other citizen. The process needs to be fair and should not unduly favour the person who is guilty of misconduct and seeks to abuse the system. In this respect, Bill C-9 meets our expectations and should receive our support, as well as that of all Canadians. I am happy about this and even hopeful that we will now tackle the other key process, judicial appointments.
It would be nice to see the government finally set partisan politics aside when appointing new judges.
Does the “Liberalist” the government is so fond of still have a place in the selection process? We have talked about this many times in the House. We will have to talk more.
Could the final selection from the short list be done by a committee made up of a representative from each of the recognized parties? Could representatives of the public or professional bodies also take part? That is certainly something to think about.
In my opinion, we are ready for this review process. The Bloc Québécois has been calling for it for a long time, and we will continue to do so. Bill C-9 may set the stage for us to seriously consider it. Will the Minister of Justice be bold enough to propose it? I hope so. If he does, I can assure him right now of our full co-operation.
Until then, let us hope that the reform of the complaints review process proposed in Bill C-9 can build public trust in our judicial system.
I said “our judicial system” because we must never forget that the judicial system belongs to the people and must be accountable to the people. We are merely the ones responsible for ensuring the system is effective.
I will not rehash here the process that led to the relatively recent resignation of a Superior Court justice for whom the review process, given the many appeals and challenges against him, apparently had no hope of ending before he was assured the monetary benefits of his office. However, we must recognize that we cannot allow this heinous impression of non-accountability and dishonesty persist, whether it is well-founded or not. We need to assume our responsibilities and make sure that the public never doubts the credibility, goodwill and effectiveness of our courts.
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- Jun/16/22 11:27:22 a.m.
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- Re: Bill C-9
Madam Speaker, with your permission and permission from my colleagues, I would like to share my time with my colleague, the member for Saint-Jean.
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