Case information

Constitutional law — Charter of Rights — Official languages — Courts — Jurisdiction — Administrative law — Judicial review — Jurisdiction — Civil procedure — Pleadings — Statement of claim alleging violation of applicant’s language rights — Superior Court striking out action on ground that court does not have jurisdiction and on ground that application disclosed no cause of action — Court of Appeal dismissing applicant’s appeal — Whether lower courts committed error by taking away from Superior Court its core jurisdiction to determine public law disputes and by creating judicial asymmetry between Ontario and rest of Canada — Whether wait and see approach adopted by trial judge is inconsistent with principle of prompt and preventive intervention — Whether language clauses set out in public law contract have same normative force as legislative measures adopted to advance equality of status of English and French — Human Rights Code, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.19, s. 32 — Adjudicative Tribunals Accountability, Governance and Appointments Act, 2009, S.O. 2009, c. 33, Sched. 5, ss. 2, 11, 14 — Judicial Review Procedure Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. J.1, ss. 1, 2, 6, 8 — Constitution Act, 1867, s. 96 — Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, ss. 16, 17, 18, 19.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicant filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (“HRTO”) against his union and its officers, alleging that the officers imposed discriminatory sanctions on him. He then presented a statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court, joining the Attorney General and the Lieutenant Governor in Council of the province, alleging violations of his language rights regarding the appointment of members of the HRTO. In response, Ontario filed a motion seeking to have the action struck out on the ground that the Superior Court did not have jurisdiction and/or on the ground that the application disclosed no reasonable cause of action. The trial judge granted Ontario’s motion and ordered that the action be struck out. The Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant’s appeal.