Ottawa will ‘align’ with bilingual order

OTTAWA • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is reviewing a court ruling that found the appointment of a unilingual anglophone as New Brunswick’s lieutenant-governor violates language rights, suggesting Ottawa will “align” with it.

It was Trudeau who appointed Brenda Murphy as the province’s lieutenant-governor in 2019.

She became both New Brunswick’s first openly gay lieutenant-governor, while also the first LGBTQ person to hold any vice-regal office in Canada.

But New Brunswick’s Acadian society challenged the appointment, citing language laws.

Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey Deware ruled last week that Charter of Rights and Freedoms protections of New Brunswick’s unique bilingual status mean a lieutenant-governor in the province must be bilingual.

Questioned on the ruling while in northern New Brunswick on Tuesday, Trudeau said the government is reviewing it.

“We are the government and the party that has always taken seriously the responsibility of elevating Canada’s two official languages and protecting official language minorities right across the country,” Trudeau said.

“The Acadian community is incredibly strong and important to both me personally and to our entire country and that’s why we will take a very, very careful look at this important judgment and make sure we are aligning with it and moving forward in the right away.

“But I can reassure everyone that we will always be there to protect official language minorities across this country. It is something that is core, not just to getting along as a country, it’s core to who we are as Canadians.”

Deware stopped short of calling Murphy’s appointment invalid, stating it would create a constitutional and legislative crisis. Instead, she said it will be up to the federal government to decide next steps.

Queen’s University political science professor Stéphanie Chouinard suggests the government will still challenge the ruling.

“One can align with a decision while appealing,” said Chouinard, an official language rights researcher. “The government will agree with the outcome of the decision that was rendered last week, but they might want to have another opinion on the process that the judge used to get to this outcome.”

Chouinard added that the ruling is facing criticism about a potential judicial overreach over executive powers. University of New Brunswick law professor Kerri Froc, and others, have argued that the ruling is a “massive overstep on the separation of powers” and that the government has an unfettered entitlement to appoint a lieutenant-governor.

Froc said that any eligibility requirement of bilingualism would have to be passed by constitutional amendment.