A judge of the Court of Quebec did not have the power to decide on his own on the constitutional validity of a reform of the French language. In a very critical judgment, the Court of Appeal criticizes the judge for having “largely” exceeded the limits of his competence.
A step back is essential. In May 2024, judge Dennis Galiatsatos sparked a political and judicial storm by making inoperative in a criminal cause a key provision of the French language charter: the obligation to translate “immediately and without delay” in French the judgments rendered in English.
This provision, which entered into force on 1is June 2024, represents a major part of the French language reform of Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette.
But according to Judge Galiatsatos, this provision was likely to have serious consequences. “The English-speaking accused will be less well treated than the French-speaking accused, since they will have to wait longer to know their fate,” he wrote, in May 2024.
In its 35 -page decision rendered on Tuesday, the Quebec Court of Appeal does not decide on the constitutionality of this provision of the French language charter. This judgment relates only to the decision of the Galiatsatos judge to seize this constitutional question, moreover against the will of all the parties.
Without a doubt, the Galiatsatos judge had no right to act like this, according to the Court of Appeal. The judge “forced the hand” of the parties by imposing this issue “against and against all”, when he did not have power. The accused had no intention of embarking on such a debate, on the eve of his trial.
“Perhaps there was a matter of constitutional debate in good and due form on the applicability of the article in criminal matters. We can legitimately wonder. But initiating, leading and resolving this debate, unilaterally, and in advance, as the judge tried to do here, greatly exceeded the limits of his competence, “concluded the court of appeal.
The highest court in the province also watches the Galiatsatos judge on his “insistence” to quickly decide this complex issue. Indeed, the judge delivered a judgment of 33 pages and 116 notes from the foots, less than 24 hours after receiving the written argumentation of the representatives of the State.
“The procedure followed here left too much to be desired. We do not decide in this way, from pure hypotheses, in a deficient procedural framework and without the lighting of a well-documented context, a question like the one on which the judge has spoken, “concluded judges Yves-Marie Morissette, Patrick Healy and Lori Renée Weitzman.
This constitutional issue has overshadowed the criminal cause from which it emanates, the trial of Christine Pryde. This 33 -year -old Montrealer was found guilty by judge Galiatsatos in October 2024 for having killed a woman by driving with the weakened faculties in 2021.
The motorist broke a 50-year-old cyclist, Irene Dehem, while riding a bike on the path of Anse-Ã -l’orme, in Senneville, in the west of Montreal. Christine Pryde should not have taken the wheel because she had taken a medication that could lead to insomnia. In addition, she hadn’t eaten anything for 40 hours.
The sentence observations are scheduled for next September at the Montreal courthouse.
