A new chapter is opening in the saga between the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, and the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau. The latter filed a lawsuit to invalidate the article of the CAQ reform of the Charter of the French language which prevents systematic bilingualism from candidates for the judiciary.
Article 12 of the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French, would be unconstitutional, according to the motion filed on August 9, at the Montreal Courthouse.
“It contravenes the principles of judicial independence by authorizing, on the one hand, the interference of the Minister in the administration of the Court and on the other hand, by subjecting the management of the latter to his own evaluation”, reads the 59-page document.
Judge Rondeau also argues that the section is unconstitutional because “it violates access to justice”. “It only takes one person to choose to speak [en anglais] in the context of a hearing so that serious difficulties arise immediately if the judge called to hear the case is unable to understand what is said to him or to express himself in turn”, she argues in the appeal in judicial review.
Last February, the Superior Court ruled in favor of Judge Rondeau in her lawsuit against Minister Jolin-Barrette. In his judgment, the magistrate Christian Immer affirmed that it could indeed require bilingualism in the process of appointing judges. “The Minister of Justice has no power over the drafting of notices of selection of candidates for the office of judge at the Court of Quebec,” he wrote.
However, Simon Jolin-Barrette had not appealed this decision by Judge Immer. He had instead chosen to amend former Bill 96, which became the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French, in order to prohibit the Court of Quebec from systematically requiring bilingualism from future judges.
More details will follow.