Case information

Administrative law — Constitutional law — Charter of Rights — Language rights — Judicial review of ministerial decision — Reorganization of court services — Allegation of violation of language rights — Extent of state’s obligations toward Francophone minority communities — Scope of values underlying s. 16.1 of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms with respect to development and flourishing of official linguistic communities — Scope of s. 3 of Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick, R.S.N.B. 2011, c. 198, with respect to development and flourishing of official linguistic communities.

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 dispute concerns the decision of the respondent, the Minister of Justice and Public Security of New Brunswick, to reorganize court services in the judicial district of Bathurst, in particular by closing the Caraquet courthouse and designating that of Tracadie as a satellite court, effective January 1, 2022. In February 2022, the applicant, Forum des maires de la Péninsule acadienne Inc., filed an application for judicial review to have the Minister’s decision set aside, on the ground that it infringed the language rights guaranteed by ss. 16 and 16.1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as by two quasi-constitutional provincial statutes, by reason of the failure to consider its effects on the government’s obligation to promote the cultural, economic, educational and social development of the Francophone minority. The trial judge allowed the application for judicial review, set aside the Minister’s decision and referred the matter back to him for a new decision. Concluding that the Forum had not established that the Minister’s decision infringed the rights guaranteed by s. 16.1 of the Charter or the values it embodies, the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick allowed the Minister’s appeal and set aside the trial decision.