On April 25, Justice Minister David Lametti, joined by Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid and Manitoba Minister of Families, Accessibility and Francophone Affairs of Manitoba Rochelle Squires, said the funding would go towards Manitoba’s implementation of the federal Divorce Act’s official language rights provision — one of several amendments made to the Act in March 2021.
Lametti, who led the virtual press conference, said the aim of the provision is to improve “bilingual access to family justice services” in the prairie province.
Justice Minister David Lametti
Lametti said Canada’s provinces and territories “will implement the official language rights in the Divorce Act on a progressive basis, as they are ready.”
According to a news release, the move in Manitoba “will ensure that families experiencing divorce have access to court proceedings in the official language of their choice.”
“Funds will be used to enhance the availability of family justice services in both official languages to assist parties in coming to agreements where possible, and support hearings by increasing the French-language capacity of the courts,” the release states. “They will also contribute to Manitoba’s new Family Law Modernization French Language Service Plan.”
Lametti said the money for Manitoba is part of $21.6 million being given to support provinces and territories in implementing this provision.
He also noted the recent tabling of legislation that “would modernize and strengthen [Canada’s] Official Languages Act.”
Introduced March 1, Bill C-13 aims to strengthen supports for French speakers across the country.
“This bill proposes amendments to clearly state that when final decisions of federal courts established a precedent in a given area of law, those decisions would be made available to the public in both official languages, simultaneously.”
The Supreme Court of Canada would have to meet the same language obligations, Lametti said.
Squires said the Divorce Act’s language rights provisions now at play in Manitoba “reinforced existing efforts by [the Manitoba] government to expand access to French language services and supports for francophone families” in the family law system.
Rochelle said the funding will go toward “staffing and technology, to ensure equitable services for Francophone families” and will also provide “work experience opportunities for bilingual students” and “expand the talent pipeline into the family law sector.”
“The new federal legislation aligns with our government’s efforts to modernize family law services and supports here in Manitoba,” she said.
MP Duguid said the strengthening of bilingualism in this area will help lessen the stress during marital breakup.
“Divorce proceedings can be especially hard on families, including children, and it is important to alleviate the stress whenever we can,” said Duguid. “This is why we have been working on increasing access to justice in both official languages — specifically in relation to the Divorce Act. I look forward to seeing these changes continue to be implemented across Manitoba.”
According to the 2016 Census, 3.7 per cent of Manitobans identified French as being their mother tongue. A Statistics Canada spokesperson confirmed this is the most up-to-date statistic, as this information contained in the 2021 Census has not yet been released.
According to the April 25 federal press release, “[n]early 10 per cent of Manitobans are French-language speakers.” A request to a Justice Canada spokesperson for clarity and specifics on this number was not immediately returned.
But later in the press conference, Lametti was hit with questions about a re-emerging controversy involving Prime Minister Justice Trudeau.
Lametti was asked by a reporter to comment on a news story from that day stating the RCMP had considered charging Trudeau with fraud for accepting the offer of a 2016 family trip to the Aga Khan’s private island — a trip which resulted in a report finding Trudeau had breached conflict of interest laws by accepting the vacation.
But Lametti said he was unable to comment.
“As attorney general, I am never going to comment on an RCMP investigation, past or present,” he said. “The RCMP has the investigative function in Canada, and then the prosecutorial services … take it over from there. So, I have no comment.”
Lametti again declined to comment when asked if Canadians should be concerned that their prime minister had potentially been facing fraud charges.
“Again, I’m not going to comment on it. Each part of the system does its own work, and I think that system serves Canadians well, and, therefore, as attorney general I have no comment.”
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