By: Frances Woolley
PDF Version: A Supreme Folly
Matter Commented On: The Bilingual Requirement for Supreme Court of Canada Justices
Last August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that, in future, only candidates who are “functionally bilingual” in French and English will be recommended for positions on the Supreme Court of Canada. With the information released subsequent to the nomination of Malcolm Rowe to the Court, we now have some sense of what this means. At a minimum, a functionally bilingual candidate should be able to read and understand court materials in both English and French, as well as discuss legal matters with their colleagues, converse with counsel in court and understand oral submissions in both languages.
Realistically, it is hard to imagine anyone being able to understand complex legal reasoning in both official languages – and, furthermore, to demonstrate convincingly that they had the ability to do so – unless they already had some experience using both English and French in a work environment. Yet opportunities to function in both French and English are unevenly distributed across the country, raising the possibility that the new bilingualism requirements will significantly alter the pool of potential Supreme Court appointees.