Language rights, 2003-2004

Thus, they have had to rule on the right to education in the minority language, the Government of Canada’s obligations in providing services to the public and the rights of litigants to be heard by the courts in the official language of their choice. [...] The decisions deal with subjects as varied as the minority language education right, language rights in the courts, language rights and service to the public, language rights in the Public Service, remedies provided in Part X of the Official Languages Act (OLA), the scope of the commitment in Part VII of the OLA, and the effect of certain administrative decisions on the vitality and development of [...] The parents who were rights holders challenged this decision in the Provincial Court because the French language education was offered outside the province, whereas under the wording of subsection 23(3) of the Charter the education should be provided “in the province.” Additionally, the agreement with the province of Quebec was not an acceptable means of meeting the constitutional requirements imp [...] Noting that the means chosen by the province in the particular case at bar was a novel way of protecting and promoting French in the best way possible in this area and was consistent with the purpose of section 23 of the Charter, the Court took care to point out, however, that the circumstances of the case were unique. [...] The judge also indicated that one clearly could not [translation] “underestimate the importance for the Francophone minority of the questions raised by the Board in this action, since they were questions of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter”.32 32 The judge has finally awarded the Council the costs greater than the fixed amount of $10,000 and $1,000 for the adjournment, for a total of $