Harvey Yarosky

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.

The respondent's trial was discontinued due to exceptional publicity from statements made in the National Assembly regarding the defence and a witness's credibility.

Before a new trial date was set, the respondent successfully moved for a stay of proceedings under section 24(1) of the Charter, which was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the Crown's appeal, holding that a stay of proceedings was premature as the possibility of selecting an impartial jury could only be determined at the jury selection stage.

The applicants sought a rehearing of a motion to extend the time for hearing their appeal, which had previously been deemed abandoned.

The Supreme Court of Canada granted the motion, setting aside its previous order and directing that an application be made to fix a date for the reinscription and hearing of the appeal on the merits.