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Minority Official Language Rights

Minority Official Language Rights. Legislation and Government Publications. Presentation Outline. Legal Structure: Overview Source: Charter Questions and answers Case studies. Minority Official Language Rights. Constitution Act , 1867 Sections 91 and 92. Legal Structure.

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Minority Official Language Rights

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  1. Minority Official Language Rights

    Legislation and Government Publications
  2. Presentation Outline Legal Structure: Overview Source: Charter Questions and answers Case studies
  3. Minority Official Language Rights
  4. Constitution Act, 1867 Sections 91 and 92
  5. Legal Structure Constitutional Legislation most permanent; enshrined; harder to change applies to four categories across Canada: 3 in federal domain, one in the provincial domain Federal Legislation topics listed in s.91 of CA 1867 Provincial Legislation only to topics listed in s.92 of CA 1867; contain some language rights; varies; s.93 Municipal Legislation varies
  6. Legislation and Government Publications
  7. Accessing Your Rights The issues: you need to read the law, access information about a law, get involved in the debate around a law Is it possible to do this in French? If so, how? If not, why not? Should it be? Is there something you can do about it?
  8. What was your past experience? Examples? Which? How did you go about it? Any challenges? The result? Left with any questions?
  9. Source - the Charter Stem from section 18: (1) The statutes, records and journals of Parliament shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative. (2) The statutes, records and journals of the legislature of New Brunswick shall be printed and published in English and French and both language versions are equally authoritative.
  10. What does that mean? (cont’d) In the House of Commons and the Senate, and in New Brunswick, all journal, order papers, notices and minutes including Hansard are in both languages. Both language versions are of equal authority/validity.
  11. House of Commons (example)
  12. Senate (example)
  13. What does that mean? All federal laws and regulations exist in both languages Accessible in either language at: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/. In all original versions, both languages appear side by side. In addition, in New Brunswick, all provincial laws and regulations also exist in both languages.
  14. Hansard(example - French)
  15. Hansard (example)
  16. New Brunswick (examples)
  17. What does that mean? (cont’d) Some provinces, although not listed as bilingual in the Charter, Have bilingual requirements stemming from earlier constitutional documents , such as the document that brought them into the Canadian federation (eg. Manitoba)OR Might interpret their earlier constitutional documents as requiring bilingualism (NWT ) or not (AB) All laws/regulations in both languages: Manitoba; Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Some laws in both languages: Newfoundland and Nova Scotia Alberta has one: LoiLinguistique
  18. NWT
  19. Ontario
  20. What does that mean? (cont’d) Municipalities get their powers because provinces delegated powers to them under s.92. Municipalities: in New Brunswick have in both languages; in other provinces may not have in both languages; cities that have Francophone or Acadian roots, such as Winnipeg and Ottawa, may have in both languages.
  21. Winnipeg
  22. How do you find out? governmental websites – “laws” section local law libraries, e.g. courthouses, law schools online law libraries, e.g. CanLII public libraries
  23. What does that mean? (cont’d) Written decisions in court cases not all have to provide in both languages Supreme Court of Canada and federal courts = yes New Brunswick courts = yes courts in other jurisdictions = not necessarily if not in both languages = can be in either language
  24. How do you find out? local law libraries, e.g. courthouses, law schools online law libraries, e.g. CanLII online courthouse databases public libraries
  25. SCC & Federal Courts (example)
  26. New Brunswick (example)
  27. Manitoba (example)
  28. What does that mean? (cont’d) Information pertaining to law(s) Both Federal government @ www.gc.ca New Brunswick Provides information in both languages. Other provinces, amount of information varies. NWT and Nunavut have a lot of information.
  29. Federal Government (examples)
  30. What does that mean? (cont’d) Information pertaining to law(s) Non-governmental organizations public legal education organizations Éducaloi, Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta, CLEO, PLEIS-NB/SPEIJ-NB
  31. Questions?
  32. Case Studies Chance to test what you have learned. Divide into groups. Examine fact patterns. Refer to handouts. Discuss. Do you think there is a constitutionally-protected right to legislation and/or government publications in the minority official language? If so, how would you have it fulfilled? What is reasonable? What would you argue? Report back in 10 minutes.
  33. Questions?
  34. Thank you! For further information or training, contact us: info@cplea.ca
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