Regina lawyers upset by Supreme Court decision on French in legal system
Sask. francophone association glad bilingual option available in courts
With the Supreme Court of Canada striking down an appeal that would have entrenched French-language rights in Alberta and Saskatchewan, organizations in both provinces are being encouraged to find alternative political ways to realize those rights.
“The francophones of Western Canada are disappointed that the Supreme Court failed to recognize one of the founding principles of Canada — that in a bilingual country, the law is to be equal to all Canadians regardless of whether they speak French or English,” Francis Poulin, a Regina-based lawyer with Miller Thomson LLP involved in the legal challenge, said Friday.
“Today’s decision means that francophones in Saskatchewan and Alberta will not have an equal right to access the laws and the courts.”
The legal matter began with Gilles Caron (in 2003) and Pierre Boutet challenging the constitutionality of English-only traffic tickets. In 2008, an Alberta provincial court judge agreed and tossed out the ticket.
But a year later, the Alberta government won an appeal in the Court of Queen’s Bench and the English-only ticket was upheld. Caron and Boutet took the matter to the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2014, but the claim was rejected. They appealed the matter again, this time to the Supreme Court.
Poulin said the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision was clear and “a definitive answer” that language rights were only entrenched in Manitoba after the western provinces entered Confederation.
Francoise Sigur-Cloutier, president of the Assemblee Communautaire Fransaskoise (ACF), was also disappointed with the court’s decision, but was also comforted that three judges supported the appeal.
The ACF joined the legal battle in 2009.
Even so, she noted the ACF has had a good working relationship with the Saskatchewan government over the years, and that issues such as language rights in the courts and legislation apply more to Alberta.
Sigur-Cloutier explained that Saskatchewan has a bilingual option for someone wanting a trial conducted in French and the province has already translated about 50 laws into French and is open to translating more. Still, SigurCloutier wanted to see those rights entrenched in the constitution rather than be realized as a privilege in Saskatchewan.
Graeme Mitchell, director of the Ministry of Justice’s constitutional law branch, represented the province in the Supreme Court case.
Had the appeal been granted, it have been a strain on the ministry’s resources because it would have had to hire numerous bilingual legislative drafters to translate all provincial laws, including regulations and orders by executive council, he explained.