LANG Committee Report

INTRODUCTION

            During the 1^st session of the 39^th Parliament, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages undertook a wide-ranging study of the vitality of the official-language minority communities that took it across the country. In a voluminous report, presented in May 2007, the Committee indicated that one of the communities’ main concerns was that, with the cancellation of the Court Challenges Program in September 2006, they feel that they have been deprived of something they consider essential to the enhancement of their vitality.

            Acknowledging how important this issue was to the communities, the Committee undertook a study at the end of the previous session solely on the Court Challenges Program. With Parliament prorogued in September 2007 and a second session begun in October, the Committee decided to continue its work on this theme using the evidence presented during the previous session.

            This report begins with a description of, and background on, the most relevant aspects of the Court Challenges Program (CCP). All elements are included, but the analysis focuses primarily on the Program’s linguistic component. Other parliamentary committees have studied the “equality rights” component.

            The report analyzes various positions taken by witnesses on the main issues arising from the government’s decision to cancel the CCP in 2006. These issues are the Program’s contribution to the vitality of official-language minority communities, the access to justice that it made possible, the federal government’s commitment to consult the communities on decisions likely to affect their development, the government’s right to exercise its prerogatives freely, and the Program’s neutrality. Other more secondary issues are also discussed, such as the relevant case law, the current government alleged promotion of the CCP to the international community, and the lack of transparency for which the CCP was criticized before the signing of the 2004-2009 contribution agreement.

            Five options were considered in order to determine what the government should do about the CCP. A majority of the Committee’s members decided that the only valid option at this point was to re-establish the Program. A majority of the members were however prepared to analyse the other options at a future date, but only after the government had rectified the error it committed in cancelling the CCP without consulting the official-language minority communities, and without explaining to Canadians the reasons for its decision. The report’s main recommendation therefore consists in requesting the government to restore funding for the Court Challenges Program.

            The Committee cannot disregard the fact that proceedings have been launched in Federal Court to contest the validity of the decision to eliminate the Program. The Court will have to rule on the interpretation of certain constitutional principles, such as the unwritten principle of protection of minorities and the federal government’s fiduciary responsibility to the official-language minority communities, as well as the scope of Part VII of the Official Languages Act (OLA) and what is entailed in the duty to consult the communities as set down in section 43(2) of the Act. The Committee must leave the Court to rule on these fundamental issues. However, the value or otherwise of the Government of Canada’s providing a funding program that facilitates access to justice for test cases likely to clarify the scope of constitutional language rights is entirely within the Committee’s mandate.