Trio of N.B. rulings narrow scope of Charter’s language provisions
CBC
Three court decisions in the last two years may represent a turning point in the history of language rights in New Brunswick, according to legal scholars and francophone activists.
In two rulings by the New Brunswick Court of Appeal and one by the Court of King’s Bench, judges have put limits on how a key section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to provincial institutions.
If upheld, they will make it less likely that the courts issue rulings in the future that broaden language rights.
“It’s a new interpretation of Section 16.1 of the Charter,” said Michel Doucet, a retired Université de Moncton law professor and leading authority on constitutional language rights.
“It’s certainly a significant shift.”
Bruno Gélinas-Faucher, a law professor at the University of New Brunswick who argued two of the cases, said the trio of rulings represents “a narrowing down or restrictive interpretation” of a key Charter provision that applies to New Brunswick.
The three recent decisions were on different issues: the position of lieutenant-governor, the closure of two courthouses and the constitutional status of the Vitalité health authority.
But a common thread in the rulings is that the Charter’s duality protections in Section 16.1(1) do not apply to a wide range of provincial institutions.
The pattern has set off alarms for francophone activists, who hope the New Brunswick Court of Appeal will rethink its approach when it rules on the appeal of the Vitalité case.
Otherwise, they will look to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We will continue and defend and promote and make sure we’re not going to be cut off,” said Nicole Arseneau-Sluyter, president of the Acadian Society of New Brunswick.
Section 16 of the Charter has two key language-rights pillars that apply to New Brunswick.
The first, 16(2), guarantees the equality of English and French as the province’s two official languages in “all institutions of the legislature and government of New Brunswick.”]
That means official bilingualism.
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Three court decisions in the last two years may represent a turning point in the history of language rights in New Brunswick, according to legal scholars and francophone activists.
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