Lt.-gov. needn’t be bilingual - appeal court
New Brunswick’s top court grants federal government’s appeal, overturning King’s Bench ruling; Acadian Society announces it'll seek to take case to Superme Court of Canada
New Brunswick’s lieutenant-governor need not be bilingual after all, says the province’s top judicial authority.
However, the organization that brought the initial Charter challenge plans to seek leave to appeal the reversal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal issued a decision Thursday morning in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s challenge of a lower court decision that found the province’s lieutenant-governor had to be fluent in both English and French, or it would constitute a violation of language rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare made the ruling in April 2022 after the Acadian Society of New Brunswick filed a court challenge of the appointment of Brenda Murphy, a unilingual anglophone, to the lieutenant-governor role in 2019.
Ottawa filed an appeal of DeWare’s decision soon thereafter, and in a unanimous decision released Thursday, a panel of three appeal judges - Chief Justice Marc Richard, Justice Kathleen Quigg and Justice Denise LeBlanc - overturned that ruling.