Language requirements of RCMP in New Brunswick
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CHARTER: LANGUAGE RIGHTS
Under an agreement between the province of New Brunswick and the RCMP, the RCMP acted as the provincial police force in New Brunswick . Ms. Paulin and the Société des acadiens et acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick filed applications in Federal Court under s. 24 of the Charter seeking clarification of the RCMP's obligations when its members provide police services under the agreement. Ms. Paulin, a New Brunswick resident , was stopped for speeding in 2000 by an RCMP officer who was unable to speak to her in French and made no active offer to do so, although he did issue the ticket in French. Ms. Paulin paid the fine. The Société des acadiens was concerned with a report recommending to the RCMP's Atlantic Region Steering Committee that the RCMP's obligations in the area of oral communications be reduced in that region. That report, known as the "Wilson" Report, had been commissioned by the Committee after the RCMP's four Atlantic divisions were combined in the mid-1990s. The Société des acadiens submitted that any review of positions at RCMP offices in New Brunswick, and particularly the language requirements at those offices, had to have regard to ss. 16.1, 16(2) and 20(2) of the Charter. The Federal Court held that s. 20(2) of the Charter applied to police services provided by the RCMP in New Brunswick . The Federal Court of Appeal reversed the judgment, finding that the province was responsible for discharging the applicable language obligations and that the proceedings should have been brought against the province rather than the RCMP, its agent under the agreement, and in the N.B. Court of Queen's Bench.
Société des acadiens et acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick Inc. v. Her Majesty the Queen - and - Marie-Claire Paulin v. Her Majesty the Queen (Fed. C.A., May 25, 2006)(31583). On November 23, 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal with costs to the applicants in any event of the cause.
Categories : Justice
Last Update : 2006-11-23
