Section 19 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

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Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms
Part of the Constitution Act, 1982
Preamble
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
1
Fundamental Freedoms
2
Democratic Rights
3, 4, 5
Mobility Rights
6
Legal Rights
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
Equality Rights
15
Official Languages of Canada
16, 16.1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
Minority Language Education Rights
23
Enforcement
24
General
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Application
32, 33
Citation
34

Section 19 of the

section 16
of the Charter.

Text

Section 19 reads,

19(1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading in or process issuing from, any court established by Parliament.
(2) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading in or process issuing from, any court of New Brunswick.

Section 19 is based on rights in section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867. Section 133 provides that "either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec." However, unlike section 133, section 19(2) extends these rights to courts in New Brunswick. This was not entirely new, as section 13(1) of the Official Languages of New Brunswick Act (1973) provided for

Société des Acadiens v. Association of Parents, Justice Jean Beetz found this to be significant. Since section 133 rights are limited, constitutional language rights in New Brunswick courts are more limited than rights under section 13(1).[1]

Section 13(1) reads,

13(1). Subject to section 15, in any proceeding before a court, any person appearing or giving evidence may be heard in the official language of his choice and such choice is not to place that person at any disadvantage.

Under section 23 of the

Manitoba Act, people in Manitoba courts have rights similar to those in section 133. Hence, New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Quebec are the only provinces whose court systems constitutionally must provide such rights.[2]

Section 19(2) was controversial when the Charter was being negotiated. The Barristers' Society of New Brunswick considered the proposed provision and argued that over 90% of New Brunswick lawyers spoke only English and the section might emphasize the language of lawyers more so than their clients.[3]

Interpretation

In Société des Acadiens, Justice Beetz ruled that section 19 of the Charter and section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867 established a right to speak in either English or French. However, neither section went so far as to guarantee a person speaking in either English or French would be understood by the judge or judges. Under these sections it would be possible for a judge who understood only one of the two languages to preside over a case in which someone chose to speak the other language. Beetz did not want such a situation, however, and felt that the right to be understood was protected by basic principles of

section 17 of the Charter
.

This interpretation of section 19 has been disputed. In the same case,

penumbra of section 19.[1][4]

However, the restrictive interpretation of language rights in Société des Acadiens was largely overturned in

R. v. Beaulac
.

References

  1. ^ a b Beetz J., Société des Acadiens v. Association of Parents, [1986] 1 S.C.R. 549.
  2. ^ Peter W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada, 2003 Student Ed. (Scarborough, Ontario: Thomson Canada Limited, 2003), page 1145.
  3. ^ Bastarache, Michel, Andre Braen, Emmanuel Didier and Pierre Foucher, Language Rights in Canada, ed. Michel Bastarache, trans. Translation Devinat et Associés, Ottawa, (Montréal, Quebec: Editions Yvon Blais, 1987), p. 151.
  4. ^ Hogg, pages 1147-1148.

External links

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