The Supreme Court has dragged the registrar into federal court to force the translation into French of some 6,000 judgments handed down before 1969 that were only available in English. may have succeeded in avoiding the request.
On Friday, the Supreme Court Registry announced that all court decisions not written in both official languages will be removed from the court’s website, and translation of some of these decisions will begin in 2025.
“From now on, only translated judgments will be available online through the court’s website. An online database available to anyone who wishes to access the full text of the court’s judgments, including judgments handed down before 1970. ,” the Registrar’s Office said in a press release.
in front of federal court
Civil rights group Droit Collectif Québec filed a petition in federal court last week asking the Registrar (the executive arm of the Supreme Court) to force the translation of the old judgment.
The organization targeted the Registrar’s Office because the courts themselves are exempt from legal proceedings based on the principle of judicial independence.
The controversy centers on the fact that, prior to the adoption of the Official Languages Act in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled only in the languages discussed in cases.
Simply by removing the monolingual decision from the website, despite two opinions from Raymond Thébergé, Director General of the Office of Official Languages, first in the preliminary investigation report in June and then in the final report: Despite the decision, legal proceedings initiated by Quebec’s Droit Collectif may be blocked. In September it argued that the failure to make decisions available in both languages before 1969 violated the Official Languages Act.
loophole
However, this is where the decision of the Registrar comes into play, and the Commissioner agreed with the Supreme Court that the Official Languages Act does not apply to decisions taken before its adoption.
However, he concluded that the situation is different when these decisions are posted online.
The law requires the use of both languages in communications between federal agencies and the public, he argued. In other words, although courts were not required to publish decisions in both languages before 1969, “the Supreme Court has since taken administrative action to publish the same decision, in this case on a website. , which triggered the application of the Act.”
The Chief Justice’s opinion, which forms the basis of Quebec’s Droit Collectifs’ claims in federal court, will no longer be valid if the monolingual judgment is no longer available on the Supreme Court’s website.
However, as the Registrar points out, these decisions can still be accessed on public websites outside the jurisdiction.
partial translation
The Registrar’s Office recognizes, albeit indirectly, that Droit Collectif Québec’s claims are partially valid. The law announced that starting next year, when the Supreme Court marks its 150th anniversary, it will begin translating historically or jurisprudentially important decisions handed down before 1970. These judgments will now be available in both French and English on the Supreme Court’s website.
When asked by The Canadian Press about the criteria used to determine the historical or legal significance of selected decisions, the Registrar’s Office responded succinctly via email, stating: This afternoon. ”
The release also said the translations posted online “do not have official status as they have not been approved by the judges who issued them (all deceased).”
“exemplary” practice
It further reminds that “when the Official Languages Act came into force in 1970, the Registrar’s Office ensured that all new judgments were issued in both French and English,” and that “the Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada “We recognized that the practice was illegal,” he added. “Exemplary”.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner previously ruled that all of the court’s He had expressed his opposition to requests for a translation of the judgment.
When Droit Collectif Québec filed its request in federal court on Nov. 1, the group’s president, Daniel Tharp, cited the 1959 Roncarelli v. (Maurice) Duplessis, an important milestone in affirming religious freedom. This argument was rejected, citing the judgment of
“This judgment has been cited in court 1,317 times. In 2024 alone, it has been cited 30 times,” he argued.
The application to the Federal Court states that the lack of a French version of the judgment constitutes a violation, orders the Registrar’s Office to translate it within three years, formally apologizes to French-speaking Canadians, and provides four copies of the French version of the judgment. We obtained two results. An organization dedicated to promoting and defending the French language will be awarded $1 million in damages.
In addition to the chief justice’s opinion, Quebec’s Droit Collectif also cited the Supreme Court’s own 1985 ruling that forced the Manitoba government to translate all laws since 1867 into French. As of this writing, the organization has not yet responded.
This report by Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 8, 2024.
