Bertha Wilson

A public sector employee challenged a Rand formula dues check-off clause and related statutory provisions, arguing that compulsory union dues used for political and social causes violated the Charter.

The Court held that the Charter applied because the dues obligation arose through government action involving a Crown-controlled public sector employer.

A majority dismissed the appeal, concluding there was no infringement of freedom of expression and no basis for relief under freedom of association, although the judges differed significantly on whether s. 2(d) included protection against compelled association and whether any prima facie infringement occurred.

The decision is a leading authority on Charter application to public sector labour relations, compelled association, and the constitutional treatment of mandatory union dues.

Constitutional appeal challenging Quebec legislation requiring public signs, commercial advertising, and firm names to appear exclusively in French.

The Court held that freedom of expression under both the Canadian Charter and the Quebec Charter includes expression in the language of one’s choice and extends to commercial expression.

Although Quebec’s objective of protecting the French language was pressing and substantial, the French-only requirement failed proportionality review because marked predominance of French, rather than exclusivity, would have been a less impairing measure.

The Court also held the impugned provisions infringed the Quebec Charter’s guarantee against discrimination based on language, while upholding the formal validity of the override provisions except to the extent of impermissible retrospective operation.

On a provincial offence appeal, the Court considered whether s. 110 of The North-West Territories Act continued in Saskatchewan through the Saskatchewan Act and whether it required bilingual legislation and permitted use of French in Saskatchewan courts.

The majority held that s. 110 continued in force by virtue of ss. 14 and 16 of the Saskatchewan Act, required Saskatchewan statutes to be enacted, printed and published in English and French, and entitled a party to use either English or French before Saskatchewan courts.

The Court further held that these rights were not entrenched and could be modified unilaterally by Saskatchewan, but only through legislation enacted in the manner and form then required by law, namely bilingual legislation.

The accused had no right to require that proceedings be conducted entirely in French or to be understood without an interpreter, but did have the right to have his plea entered in French.

Because that right was denied, the conviction was quashed.