The appellant challenged a conviction arising from a municipal traffic prosecution on the basis that the initiating summons was issued only in French, contrary to s. 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867.
The Court held, by majority, that it had jurisdiction to entertain an appeal notwithstanding the provincial appellate court's refusal of leave, given the constitutional significance of the issue.
On the merits, the majority concluded that s. 133 protects the language choice of speakers, writers, and issuers in judicial proceedings, but does not entitle a litigant to receive court process in the litigant's own language.
A unilingual French summons issued by a Quebec court was therefore valid, and the appeal was dismissed with costs, Wilson J. dissenting.
