The Supreme Court begins the translation of “most important” past decisions

The Supreme Court began translation of some of the “most important” decisions of the Canadian legal heritage rendered only in English before 1970.

An independent committee made up of seven lawyers. For example, including the Bâtonnière du Québec Catherine Claveau and the former Supreme Court judge Clément Gascon, identified 24 decisions of historical importance which should be translated as a priority.

The first translation. Similarly, published “Later this fall”, aims “The Roncarelli Duplessis affair”, a legal saga combining freedom of religion and provincial powers which opposed a Montreal restaurateur and witness of Jehovah, Frank Roncarelli, to the Quebec Prime Minister of the time, Maurice Duplessis.

Pulse

The approach is praised by Collective Rights Quebec (DCQ). the organization which continues the office of the registrar of the Supreme Court before the Federal Court.

After having claimed it informally supreme court begins translation “most for years. DCQ wants to force the translation of the entire catalog of pre-1970 decisions, which has around 6000 documents.

Étienne-Alexis Boucher, co-founder of DCQ, believes that the work of his organization is not unrelated to this initiative.

“We pretend to think that it shows that our legal position is solid. while manifestly, the Supreme Court proceeds to a translation that it did not want to initially,” he said in an interview.

But according to the office of the Supreme Court registrar. “this initiative is undertaken for 150^e Birthday of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2025 […]».

Despite the announcement of the start of the work, Mr. Boucher does not give up. ensures that this does not change the pursuit: he wishes not only the translation of all decisions, but that these are recognized as legally valid documents.

“Our position is one in principle,” he says.

Mandate

The outgoing supreme court begins translation “most commissioner for official languages. Raymond Théberge, had demanded from the Supreme Court that it translates all its past decisions to comply with the Official Languages Act.

Chief judge Richard Wagner has been reluctant to launch such a large project. citing, among other things, a potentially exorbitant cost and the lack of employees in the system.

The Supreme Court has withdrawn all of the pre-1970 decisions from its website to avoid any blame.

The year 1970 marked the entry into force of the Official Languages Act. Since that time, decisions of the Supreme Court have been published in English and French.