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.
