Question Period Note: French-Language Versions of Constitutional Documents

On June 29, 2021, Senator Pierre J. Dalphond tabled a motion recalling the commitment made in section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982 to have a fully bilingual Constitution.

• My honourable colleague, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, is responsible for this file.

• In 2021, a new administrative consolidation of the Constitution Acts, 1867 to 1982 was published in both official languages on the Justice Canada website.

• The adoption of the French version of the 31 texts forming the Canadian Constitution requires the will and coordination of the legislative chambers of the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures.

• On June 29, 2021, Senator Pierre J. Dalphond tabled a motion that:
o recalls that, despite the commitment made in section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982 to have a fully bilingual Constitution, to date, of the 31 texts that make up the Canadian Constitution, 22 are official only in their English version, including virtually the entire Constitution Act, 1867; and
o asks the government to consider, as part of the review of the Official Languages Act, the addition of a requirement to submit, every five years, a report detailing the efforts made to comply with section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
• The Minister of Justice is responsible for preparing a French version of those parts of the Constitution that have not been enacted in French, and this obligation was met in 1990.
• The obligation to present the French version "for adoption" cannot be fulfilled without the coordinated action of the federal and provincial legislatures, and the political will of the federal and provincial governments, including that of Quebec.
• The Quebec government has indicated in the past that it does not wish to engage in the process of enacting these documents until there is a willingness for further constitutional reform. Without Quebec, it is politically and practically impossible to achieve the unanimity required for these documents to be enacted.
• In 2021, a new administrative consolidation of the constitutional Acts from 1867 to 1982, based on the improved French version of the Constitution Act, 1867 proposed by the French Constitutional Drafting Committee in its 1990 report, was published on the Justice Canada website. The new consolidation is in PDF format and bilingual.
• The Canadian constitution is not contained in one single document, but rather is distributed amongst dozens of texts, the most important of which are the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Constitution Act, 1982.
• On August 30, 2019, former Senator Serge Joyal and law professor François Larocque filed a motion with the Superior Court of Quebec to institute proceedings for declaratory judgment and for judicial review, to force the Canadian Parliament and the National Assembly of Quebec to adopt the French-language version of 22 constitutional texts. According to Mr. Joyal and Mr. Larocque, the fact that many constitutional texts are in English only infringes upon the official character of the French language and the equality of its status, rights and privileges with English as to its use in institutions.
o On February 5, 2021, the Attorney General of Canada (AGC) and the Attorney General of Quebec each served and filed their statements of facts.
o On February 22, 2022, AGC provided the requested documents to the plaintiffs.
o Sometime in 2023, Plaintiffs as well as AGC shall file their briefs.
o The parties will then need to request a hearing date from the Court likely in 2024.
• Section 55 of the Constitution Act, 1982 requires the preparation of a French version of Canada’s constitutional texts “as expeditiously as possible” and enacted by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada. Almost 40 years later, this has not been accomplished.
o A French Constitutional Drafting Committee was created in 1984 to assist the Minister of Justice in this effort. The committee tabled its final report – including 42 constitutional texts – in Parliament in 1990.

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