Participation of the Chamber of the Judicial Officers of Quebec and the UIHJ to a Seminar involving Chinese Judges at the Montreal University

 

Thus, the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal has received, from 12 to 31 October 2015, seventeen Chinese judges to introduce them to the principles of various Canadian law and their application by the courts. The arrival in Montreal of these judges followed an agreement signed in May 2014 between the Law School and the National Judges College of the Supreme Court of China during a mission of the former Dean, Professor Guy Lefebvre.

Lasting three years, this agreement is the formation of three cohorts of twenty Chinese judges guests to Montreal for a training by several professors of the Law Faculty and also members of the Quebec and Canadian judiciary. This year marks the second edition of the program which focused on the theme of: «Open Justice in Theory and Practice». This colloquium emphasized the coexistence in Canada of civil law and the common law and tackled various issues under the civil law, constitutional law, administrative law and finally criminal law. The administration of justice was also the subject of discussions, which were supplemented by visits to various civil and administrative courts as well as meetings with leading members of the Canadian judiciary. This training of those Chinese judges allows them to compare their system with the Canadian judicial system, in order to possibly promote reforms.

The Faculty of Law is proud to partner with the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) for the holding of this second activity under the Cooperation Agreement with the National Judges College of the Supreme Court of China.

This year was the first time that the Chamber of the Judicial Officers of Quebec and the UIHJ were invited to attend this training. As part of this transparency, bailiffs presented their judicial role has liberal and judicial officers with several aspects related to the: «transparency of their professional ethics » on one hand and on the other of: «the execution of judgments facing the public protection».

These sessions within various seminars given to judges issued from divers parts of China represented a total of 75 hours spread over twenty days. The seminar given by our colleagues André Bizier the actual President of the National Chamber of Quebec and member of the board of the UIHJ, and his colleague André Mathieu, former member of the board of the UIHJ, have declared themselves very satisfied with their experience with these judges came from so far away. They clearly appreciated the various interactions not only with them but also between themselves in the numerous explanations given. Our colleagues have appreciated the studious and attentive character of these judges came to learn on our judicial function and the answers to their several questions.

This exclusive seminar was given in English with translation into Mandarin by two extraordinary translators. All judges without exception declared themselves delighted to have met the bailiffs focusing their explanation on the public protection and particularly with a very pleasant touch of humour according to the translators at the end of the seminar.

Finally, our colleagues were invited to a gala dinner which took place on October 29th at the University Club of Montreal. During the dinner they took advantage of the moment to give to the head of the Chinese delegation Mr. Justice Yinzhong HAO, being the vice-president of the National Judges College of the Supreme Court of the People's Republic of China a copy of our global code of enforcement published this year by our Union and recently praised by the World Bank in Bangkok. Another copy was given to the new Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal Professor Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens then represented by the Vice-Dean Paul Daly and in the presence of former Dean, Prof. Guy Lefebvre. The University also received for their law Library a copy of our publication on the Execution and notification rights within European jurisprudence case law along with a copy of the book on the European origins of the bailiff and his Quebec roots that was done by our colleague André Mathieu at the first Montreal International congress occurred in America in 1985.

During this very nice and friendly evening, our colleague André Mathieu after a question to some Chinese Judges learned through the General Consul of China in Montreal Ms. YAN Suli translating the question that there would be a total of approximately 170,000 judges across China and approximately 52,000 judicial officers officers attached to various courts in China. These figures are however unofficial.

In China, the word "judicial officer" is written in Mandarin as follows: 执 达官 which shall be pronounced: Zhixing guān « ZHI XING GUAN ». We would like to thank the University of Montreal, its staff and the Chinese translators for the information provided in this article.