Latest news with #language law
National Post
2 hours ago
- National Post
Judge overstepped his authority in ruling against Quebec's language law: appeal court
A courthouse in Montreal. Photo by Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press/File MONTREAL — Quebec's Court of Appeal says a provincial court judge overstepped his jurisdiction when he ruled that part of the province's language law is unconstitutional. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Unlimited online access to National Post. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE ARTICLES Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events. Unlimited online access to National Post. National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors In May 2024, Quebec court Judge Denis Galiatsatos raised a legal question on his own initiative while overseeing a case involving a woman charged with criminal negligence causing the death of a cyclist. The woman had sought a trial in English. Galiatsatos took issue with a section of Quebec's language law that was scheduled to enter into effect in June of that year, a few days before the start of the trial. The law requires that a French translation of court decisions be made available 'immediately and without delay.' Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again The judge said at the time that the law would systematically delay English verdicts because of the French translation requirement. In a procedural ruling ahead of the trial, he declared the provision inoperable. His ruling was overturned by the Court of Appeal in late May. In a written ruling dated Aug. 8 outlining its reasons, a three-justice panel unanimously agreed that Galiatsatos's actions in initiating the debate went beyond his jurisdiction. 'Perhaps there was room here for a proper constitutional debate on the applicability of the (law) in criminal matters. One can legitimately ask this,' the high court ruled. 'But initiating, conducting and resolving this debate, unilaterally and in anticipation, as the judge attempted to do here, went far beyond the limits of his jurisdiction.' Following Galiatsatos's initial ruling, Quebec's attorney general took the matter before Superior Court for a judicial review, which was dismissed due to the absence of 'harm to the public interest in the judge's ruling.' Quebec's attorney general then brought the matter before the Court of Appeal, which said, 'the procedure followed here left too much to be desired' and that a judge alone cannot take it upon themselves to decide a matter in this way, using 'pure hypotheses,' a 'deficient procedural framework' and absent the 'illumination of a well-documented context.' If anyone chooses to challenge the constitutionality of the article in the future, it will have to be redone correctly, the court ruled. Droits collectifs Quebec, a Quebec civil liberties group, welcomed the ruling. The organization takes up cases of French language rights, notably in the push to get the Supreme Court of Canada to translate unilingual English rulings delivered before 1970, when decisions started to be systemically translated under the Official Languages Act.
CBC
6 hours ago
- Politics
- CBC
Quebec's top court says judge overstepped his authority in ruling against language law
Quebec's Court of Appeal says a provincial court judge overstepped his jurisdiction when he ruled that part of the province's language law is unconstitutional. In May 2024, Quebec court Judge Denis Galiatsatos raised the question on his own initiative while overseeing a case involving a woman charged with criminal negligence causing the death of a cyclist. The language law's article 10 says a French translation of court decisions must be made available "immediately and without delay." The English-language trial in question got underway two days after the language law took effect in June 2024. Galiatsatos said at the time that the law systematically delays the delivery of verdicts handed down in English because of the French translation requirement. Both the provincial and federal attorneys general argued before the Court of Appeal that Galiatsatos could not raise the question on his own initiative. The province's high court agreed, and in a ruling Aug. 8 said the judge's actions in initiating the debate went beyond his jurisdiction.
CTV News
8 hours ago
- CTV News
Judge overstepped his authority in ruling against Quebec's language law: appeal court
This site can't be reached The webpage at might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
