Newsletter

The LRSP’s newsletter aims to inform Canadians of current events relating to official language rights and to announce the LRSP’s upcoming events.

LRSP LIVE - July 2016 Edition

Blog

Letter to the Editor of the Acadie Nouvelle newspaper

The goal of this letter is to clarify the information in the article published on November 25, 2015 called: “Stephen Harper était-il vraiment un monstre francophobe?

It is true that, in September 2006, the conservative government abolished the Court Challenges Program (CCP) and that the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) and the Commissioner of official languages filed a lawsuit to restore its funding.

The Supreme Court of Canada does not recognize legislative bilingualism in Alberta and Saskatchewan

In a highly anticipated judgement rendered on November 20th 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal of Gilles Caron and Pierre Boutet in Caron v. Alberta. Consequently, the highest court in the land essentially rejected the notion of legislative bilingualism at the provincial level in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Return of the long-form census: Good news for OLMCs

The new Liberal government announced on November 5th, 2015 the return of the mandatory long-form census questionnaire, and that, only one day after its official swearing-in. The announcement of the long questionnaire’s abolition in 2010, under the banner of the Conservative government, caused a wave of protests among statisticians, public servants and academics, but also among minority interest groups in Canada.

Blog Archives

The Supreme Court will not hear cases on school rights to Northwest Territories

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed, on October 29th, 2015, the request of the Commission Scolaire Francophone, Territoires du Nord-Ouest (CSFTN-O) and the Association des parents ayants droit de Yellowknife(APADY) to appeal two decisions of the Court of Appeal of the Northwest Territories rendered earlier this year. (You can see them here and here.)

What does this mean for these two applicants and for school boards and associations of right-holder parents across the country?

Looking beyond the status quo: analysis of the decision in the CSFY case

The Supreme Court judgement in the Yukon Francophone School Board(YFSB) case confirms the status quo and both parties will now have to start afresh this whole process. Although it is difficult to say that this decision will help promote the evolution of educational language rights in Canada, it is possible to identify some positive elements.

Read more.

Decision in the Rose-des-Vents case

After a long and complex legal battle, Francophone parents of Vancouver in British Columbia have been successful with the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in the Rose-des-Vents case.

Read more.

Understanding Bill S-205 for the modernization of the Official Languages Act

This article was written by Jasmine Ranger, student at the University of Ottawa and communications assistant at the Language Rights Support Program since May 2014. Proud Franco-Ontarian since her teens, her new job piqued her interest in language rights. The study of Bill S-205 is one of the recent events that drew her attention. She wanted to fully understand it and, at the same time, share her new knowledge on this blog.

Reference on Senate Reform and linguistic minorities

On April 25, 2014 the Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in the matter of the Reference on Senate Reform. The eight justices held unanimously that Parliament cannot achieve the Senate reform without the consent of the provinces.

The Supreme Court emphasized the historical role of the Senate to the fair representation of minorities, without which minority communities could not be represented due to their number and the popular democratic system.

Therefore, the Supreme Court held that the Senate is part of Canada’s constitutional structure and as such, the federal government cannot unilaterally modify or abolish the Senate. To achieve the reform of the Senate the federal government has to apply the constitutional amending formulas adopted during the patriation of the Constitution in 1982. These formulas are detailed in part V of the Constitution Act, 1982.

For further details on this case, see:

The decision rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada :

http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/13614/index.do

Factum of the interveners on line:

http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/fac-mem-eng.aspx?cas=35203

The publication concerning the reform of the Senate by Benoît Pelletier, lawprofessor, (in french only): « Réponses suggérées aux questions soulevées par le renvoi à la Cour suprême du Canada concernant la réforme du Sénat » (2013), 43R.G.D.445., on line, Érudit: http://www.erudit.org/revue/rgd/2013/v43/n2/1023203ar.pdf

Written by: Guylaine Loranger, Legal Advisor andMarie-Hélène Haché, Law Student- April 30, 2014

The Francophone Community of Ontario

For those who doubt the vitality of the Franco-Ontarian community, you are far from reality! My name is Marie-Eve Bourgault and I work as a student writer for the LRSP, an experience which allows me to learn about constitutional language rights and official language minority communities in Canada. I recently discovered the Francophone community in Ontario and I have to admit, I still have much to learn.

French in Alberta

Following my interview with Denis Vaillancourt, who allowed me to better understand the Francophonie in Ontario, I decided to continue in this way to satisfy my desire to learn more about official language minority communities in Canada. This time, I wanted to get the opinion of a member of one of these communities rather than an organization.

The English-speaking Community of Quebec

Having discovered an interest for writing blogs aimed at discovering official language communities living in a minority setting, I was looking forward to doing it all over again. After having the opportunity to get an overview of the Francophone communities in Ontario and Alberta, I decided to find out how English-speaking Quebecers embrace their language rights and how these rights are reflected in the mandate of the Quebec Community Group Network(QCGN), the representative organisation of this community. To find out more, I spoke with Mrs. Sylvia Martin-Laforge, Director General of QCGN, who agreed to answer my questions.

Impact Studies

Impact studies are written by individuals, groups or non-profit organizations wishing to undertake a study on the influence of a bill, a law, or a proposed constitutional amendment, or the effect of a legal ruling concerning constitutional language rights on official language communities in Canada.

Each of these studies was written in the language selected by the authors, in either English or French.  The LRSP prepared a summary of each study in the other official language than the one in which it was prepared, in order for readers to understand the essence of the study in this other official language.  In general, the complete version of the study is only available in the language in which it was written.  However, in certain circumstances, it is possible that the study will be made available in both languages.

The following impact studies have been funded by the LRSP under its « Information and Promotion » component.

Recent impact studies

The Application of Section 16(1) of the Constitution Act 1982 and Part VII of the Official Languages Act, RSC1985 c31 to the English Speaking Community of Quebec

Until the Queen otherwise directs…”: The Government of Canada’s positive obligation to foster and promote the equality of both official languages in the City of Ottawa

Review of certain provisions granting, denying or limiting the powers of management and control for sites and educational institutions for French-language school boards in the Canadian provinces and territories

The legacy of the R v. Beaulac decision

Disclaimer

The impact studies are published on this website for information purposes only and are not intended to replace the advice or services of a professional, such as a lawyer or other, for the particular situation of the reader or the user. The opinions expressed and other content contained in the impact studies, published on this website, belong solely to the authors of the study and do not represent, in any way, the views of the LRSP, the members of its Panel of Experts or the University of Ottawa. The LRSP, the members of its Panel of Experts and the University of Ottawa do not accept any responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, currency or reliability of the information provided by the authors of the impact studies.

Thus, the use of an impact study or any information contained therein is at the risk of the user.  Users have the responsibility of respecting copyrights.