MINISTER DION STATES THE OPINION BY THE SUPREME COURT ON
UNILATERAL SECESSION IS A TURNING POINT IN CANADIAN HISTORY
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, September 24, 1999 – Speaking to students and
faculty at the Centre for Constitutional Studies at the University of Alberta in
Edmonton, the President of the Privy Council and Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, said today that the
opinion on unilateral secession rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada on
August 20, 1998, was a watershed in the history of the Canadian federation.
The Minister noted that the Court confirmed that a unilateral secession would
have no basis in law. The Court stated that, in law, secession requires a
constitutional amendment, which has to be negotiated. The Court added that only
clear support for secession can give rise to an obligation to undertake such
constitutional negotiations.
The Minister said that he saw this opinion by the Supreme Court of Canada as
the confirmation of a right enjoyed by Quebecers: "the right never to have
their full belonging to Canada challenged unless they have clearly expressed
their desire to renounce it." He indicated that the Government of Quebec,
contrary to what it had believed, could not invoke international law to effect
secession unilaterally. It would have to negotiate it, within the Canadian
constitutional framework and in accordance with the constitutional principles of
federalism, democracy, the rule of law, and the protection of minorities,
acknowledging that nothing could be ruled out, including negotiations on
boundaries, the Minister explained.
With respect to the obligation to negotiate in the event of clear support for
secession, the Minister indicated that this position by the Court is perfectly
satisfactory to the Government of Canada. He pointed out that then Attorney
General the Honourable Allan Rock addressed the moral aspect of this obligation
in a speech to the House of Commons on September 26, 1996, setting out the
reasons for the reference to the Supreme Court: "The leading political
figures of all our provinces and the Canadian public have long agreed that the
country will not be held together against the clear will of Quebecers."
Similarly, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said on December 8, 1997, that
[TRANSLATION] "in such a situation, there will undoubtedly be negotiations
with the federal government." (Le Soleil, 08-12-97)
Minister Dion also noted that he himself had stressed this principle many
times in his speeches and public letters, starting with his first statement as a
minister: [TRANSLATION] "In the unfortunate eventuality that a strong
majority in Quebec were to vote on a clear question in favour of secession, I
believe that the rest of Canada would have a moral obligation to discuss the
division of the territory." (Le Soleil, 27-01-1996)
Therefore, the significant element of the Court’s opinion is not the
obligation to negotiate, but rather "the solid and irrefutable causal link
that the Court establishes between this obligation to negotiate secession and
the clarity of support for secession," the Minister emphasized.
The obligation to negotiate can stem only from "a decision of a clear
majority of the population of Quebec on a clear question to pursue
secession," the Minister stated, citing paragraph 93 of the Court’s
opinion. There is no such obligation, he explained, if the expression of
democratic will "is itself fraught with ambiguities. Only the political
actors," the Court stipulated, "would have the information and
expertise to make the appropriate judgment as to the point at which, and the
circumstances in which, those ambiguities are resolved one way or the
other." (par. 100)
As a result, Mr. Dion added, "the Government of Quebec is certainly free
to use its parliamentary majority to have the National Assembly adopt a
referendum question drafted by the Government, and then to put that question to
Quebec voters. But the Government of Canada, as a ‘political actor’ and a
‘participant in Confederation,’ also has the duty to make its own evaluation
of the clarity of the question and the majority, before concluding that it is
bound to negotiate the break-up of Canada."
Could the Government of Quebec then try to obtain international recognition?
Minister Dion answered by pointing to the international community’s extreme
reluctance to recognize unilateral secession. "There are,
unfortunately," he noted, "many populations in the world that desire
their independence to an almost unanimous degree, that are victims of
unimaginable exactions by the states to which they belong, and yet do not
succeed in obtaining international recognition as independent states."
And so, Mr. Dion believes, "we Quebecers should not opt for secession by
counting on international support exercised against the will of the Canadian
state. Instead, we should count on the honesty of other Canadians. We should
rely on the values of tolerance that we all share in Canada, and which would be
essential to the conduct of those painful and difficult negotiations. And
therein lies the contradiction of the secessionist project: since other
Canadians are good and reasonable people, why should we want to separate from
them?"
"And yet this whole debate could be avoided," the Minister
explained. "All the Quebec government has to do is announce tomorrow
morning that it will never hold a referendum unless it becomes evident that a
consensus exists in Quebec in favour of its ceasing to be part of Canada and
becoming an independent country. If the Government of Quebec were to issue such
a statement, the referendum uncertainty would disappear, together with all the
costs and waste of energy it entails. We would all do better to work together to
improve our quality of life and to solve the social problems that compel all our
attention, and all our unity," the Intergovernmental Affairs Minister
concluded.
Mr. Dion will address the same topic this evening in a speech to the
Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Alberta.
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For information :
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André Lamarre
Special Assistant
Telephone: (613) 943-1838
Fax: (613) 943-5553
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