A. Kerr Twaddle

The appellant, a French-speaking person, was charged with speeding and received a summons in English only.

He challenged the validity of the summons and the conviction on the basis that the underlying statutes were enacted in English only, contrary to s. 23 of the Manitoba Act, 1870.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that while the statutes were invalid, the summons was preserved by the de facto doctrine, and the conviction was preserved by the rule of law principle.

The Court also held that s. 23 does not require a summons to be printed in both English and French.

The appeal was dismissed.

The Governor in Council referred questions to the Supreme Court regarding the validity of Manitoba's unilingual legislation under s. 23 of the Manitoba Act, 1870.

The Court held that the requirement to enact, print, and publish laws in both English and French is mandatory, rendering all unilingual Acts of the Manitoba Legislature invalid and of no force or effect.

However, to avoid a legal vacuum and preserve the constitutional principle of the rule of law, the Court deemed the invalid current Acts temporarily valid for the minimum period necessary for their translation, re-enactment, printing, and publication.