Supreme Court bilingual bill unfair: Yukon senator

The Yukon's senator says he opposes a federal bill that could make it mandatory for Supreme Court of Canada justices to be bilingual, saying the proposed requirement is discriminatory and divisive.

Bill C-232, which recently passed through the House of Commons, would make it mandatory for Supreme Court judges to be able to understand both official languages without the assistance of an interpreter.

But Yukon Conservative Senator Daniel Lang and other critics of the bill say it would make language skills more important than legal competence when it comes to choosing Canada's top judges.

"It's going to limit the pool of eligible lawyers, who are aspiring to be on the Supreme Court of Canada, because of this criteria," Lang told CBC News on Thursday.

Bill C-232 was introduced by New Brunswick NDP MP Yvon Godin, who has argued that interpreters should not be relied on in the Supreme Court of a bilingual country.

Rural Canadians at disadvantage

But Lang said the bill, if passed, would put lawyers from First Nations and rural communities at a disadvantage.

"From my perspective, it's going to really limit those students that come from small-town Canada," he said.

"Those second-language programs that are in those smaller schools aren't as good as, for example, in Whitehorse or in Calgary, where you have the option of going to French immersion."

Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell supports Bill C-232, as does Robert Rothon, executive director of Canadian Parents for French in British Columbia and Yukon.

"Certainly the intent of the bill for us, unquestionably, [is] a good one," Rothon said, adding that French-language programs in Canadian schools are growing.

"Whether it's equally accessible to all demographics [in Yukon] is an issue that, frankly, only Yukon Education can address," he said.

Debate on the bill is expected to continue in the Senate before it goes to a vote.