Roger Tassé

Following the Supreme Court's opinion declaring Manitoba's unilingual statutes constitutionally invalid, a special hearing was held to determine the minimum period necessary for their translation, re-enactment, printing, and publishing.

The Court issued a consent order giving effect to Manitoba's commitment to publish its laws in a bilingual, parallel column format.

The period of temporary validity for the laws of Manitoba was extended to December 31, 1988, for consolidated statutes, regulations, and rules of court, and to December 31, 1990, for all other laws.

The applicants sought judicial release or a stay of sentence pending the Supreme Court of Canada's judgment on their appeals.

They had previously applied for judicial release to the Court of Appeal of British Columbia, which was dismissed by a chambers judge and a review was declined by the Chief Justice.

Assuming it had jurisdiction, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to grant the orders sought, noting that the lower court's denial was based on the specific circumstances of the applicants rather than a general rule against release upon a reserve of judgment.