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THE HONOURABLE STÉPHANE DION HIGHLIGHTS THE PROPER USE OF
THE LAW IN THE AREA OF THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES
TORONTO, ONTARIO, January 24, 2002 – In a speech today to members of
the Ontario Bar Association and the Association des juristes d’expression française
de l’Ontario, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council
and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, affirmed that, in the area of the
official languages, it is imperative to rely both on political responsibility
and on judicial action. "By wanting to extend legal guarantees too much,
one ends up defeating political initiative", he stated.
Minister Dion noted the many gains made in the language rights area, notably
in the past 30 years, citing the examples of the Official Languages Act
of 1969 and of 1988 as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Mr. Dion underlined the extent to which the courts have played a positive
role starting in the 1970s, notably in the areas of legislative bilingualism and
minority-language education rights. He referred to the liberal and dynamic
interpretations made by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Blaikie
decisions regarding legislative bilingualism and in the Mahe and Arsenault-Cameron
decisions in the education field. He also indicated that this generous approach
has recently been extended to other fields as evidenced by the Beaulac
and Montfort decisions which confirmed the principle of substantive equality of
the two official languages.
The Minister then discussed the limitations of the law in terms of defending
language rights, and emphasized that the Government cannot support an argument
such as "ratcheting," according to which every government initiative
targeting a linguistic minority becomes an acquired right. This argument, if it
had been accepted by the courts, "would have disturbed the needed
balance between the field of political initiative and that of legal guarantees
(...) and would have been prejudicial to the cause of bilingualism and
official-language minorities", the Minister stated.
The Minister also said that, in the context in which linguistic communities
are evolving, it is important that governments be able to set their priorities
effectively as they do not have the resources to advance everything that would
be ideally required. "These priorities have to be set very carefully.
There is a serious risk of letting them fluctuate randomly as cases make their
way through the courts", he pointed out.
Mr. Dion continued by asserting that it is desirable for the government and
legislators, while continuing to analyse carefully any situation where their
intervention before the courts is likely to support minority communities, to
show leadership and adopt themselves the dynamic and liberal approach of the
courts. "Legal battles consume resources, wear down litigants, and
sometimes create divisions within communities," but "until
governments themselves assume their constitutional and legal responsibilities
for Canadian bilingualism, citizens and communities will be justified in turning
to the courts", he stated.
After illustrating the progress achieved in the area of minority Francophone
school attendance and governance as well as in the Francophone representation in
the federal public service, Mr. Dion affirmed that "if such progress has
been possible, it is because we have been able to strike and maintain the proper
balance between the area of political initiative and that of legal guarantees".
Having at first noted the need to firmly entrench language rights in the
Constitution and laws, Minister Dion concluded by making another equally
important point, namely the need to "mobilize all of the vitality of
communities, all of the good will of the country’s Francophones and
Francophiles, and all of governments’ capacity for initiative". And
he repeated the commitment by the Prime Minister and his government toward the
promotion of bilingualism and the development of official-language minority
communities.
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For information:
André Lamarre
Special Advisor
Tel: (613) 943-1838
Fax: (613) 943-5553
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