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.
