Mary Simon was sworn in as Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General during a ceremony in the Senate Chamber in Ottawa on July 26, 2021.BLAIR GABLE / X02562
A group of Quebecers has filed a legal challenge against the appointment of Mary Simon as governor general on the grounds that her inability to speak French violates constitutional requirements for official bilingualism.
The measure follows months of controversy in the province over the fact that the Queen’s representative in Canada speaks only one of the country’s official languages. Mrs. Simon is the first indigenous person to serve as governor general and speaks Inuktitut as well as English.
Quebeckers who filed a lawsuit in Quebec’s Superior Court on Wednesday are following a successful attempt by New Brunswick Acadians to declare the appointment of the province’s unilingual English-speaking lieutenant governor as a violation of the Constitution.
The lawsuit argues that the nomination of Ms. Simon violates sections of the Bill of Rights and Freedoms that give Canadians the right to interact with federal government institutions in French or English, and give both languages the same status within the Government of Canada. .
The person acting as governor general is the only synonym of the position he holds, due to the highly personal nature of the position, the lawsuit argues, meaning that the bilingualism required of federal institutions should also be required in the same Mrs. Simon.
His inability to express himself in French is not only unconstitutional, but also offensive to Canadian francophones who feel despised in an English-majority country, said Frédéric Bastien, a former candidate for leadership of the Parti Québécois who leads the judicial challenge. .
“It’s another injustice for French Canadians in a long line of injustices,” he said. “Every time I go to a restaurant in Montreal and they can’t serve me in French, it’s a humiliation and it’s an everyday thing. Now the example is being set from above. “
Mrs. Simon is an Inuk and grew up in the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, but was educated at a federal day school where students were taught English.
He delivered part of his first throne speech in French, but prominent Quebec figures, including Prime Minister François Legault, have criticized his understanding of the language. Mrs. Simon has said she is “firmly committed to learning French”.
His appointment last year as vice-royal representative sparked a shout out in Quebec and a torrent of more than 1,000 complaints to the federal commissioner of official languages, who opened an investigation into the nomination. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended Mrs Simon at the time citing the lack of French instruction offered to her at school.
Finally, Commissioner Raymond Théberge authorized the Privy Council Office, which advised the Prime Minister during the appointment process, to violate the Official Languages Act.
The issue was reopened in April when a New Brunswick Queen’s Court judge ruled that the appointment of an English-speaking unilingual lieutenant-governor for Canada’s only officially bilingual province violated the Charter. The federal government is appealing, arguing, among other things, that the relevant language protections in New Brunswick apply to institutions and not to people.
Chief Justice Tracey DeWare based her decision on the specific language provisions of the Charter for New Brunwsick, but they are close enough to the articles on English and French at the federal level that Mr. Bastien was motivated to launch a similar legal challenge. The Justice pour le Québec defense groups join it (of which he is president) and the Association for the Defense of Individual and Collective Rights of Quebec.
The New Brunswick ruling did not invalidate the appointment of Brenda Murphy as lieutenant governor, and noted that doing so would create a crisis by calling into question the laws she has signed. Instead, the judge let the federal government decide how to fix the situation.
The Acadian Society of New Brunswick, which launched the original legal challenge, is asking the federal government to require future New Brunswick lieutenant governors to be bilingual. The group’s president, Alexandre Cédric Doucet, said that while viceroy representatives have mostly ceremonial functions, they also have important functions that require them to understand Canada’s two official languages.
“If they are not able to understand the laws they sign, we are beyond symbolism,” he said.
The federal challenge attempts to make the appointment of Ms. Simon is “invalid” under Canadian law. Bastien said it would be up to the courts to decide how to handle the implications of recent federal legislation.
The fact that Ms. Simon is Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General does not excuse her inability to speak French, she said, adding that there are potential Indigenous candidates for the position who speak both English and French.
Anglophones should reflect on how they would feel if language roles were reversed, Bastien said.
“It is totally and utterly unthinkable that the governor general cannot speak English,” he said.
The offices of the prime minister, governor general and justice minister did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
In a statement, Private Council Office spokesman Pierre-Alain Bujold said: “We have received the complaint and will review it closely. Since its installation almost a year ago, the first indigenous governor general Mary Simon has represented Canada abroad, received world leaders in Canada, honored the achievements of members of the Canadian Armed Forces, and had the opportunity to meet Canadians from across the country who represent Canada. our diversity. The Governor-General has done a remarkable job and has shown great leadership in the performance of her duties. “
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