Devine v Quebec (AG)

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Devine v Quebec (AG)

Supreme Court of Canada

Hearing: November 18, 19, 1987

Judgment: December 15, 1988

Citations [1988] 2 S.C.R. 790, 55 D.L.R. (4th) 641,

10 C.H.R.R. 5610, [1989] 36 C.R.R. 64

Docket No. 20297

Court Membership

Chief Justice: Brian Dickson

Puisne Justices: Jean Beetz, Willard Estey, William

McIntyre, Antonio Lamer, Bertha Wilson, Gerald Le Dain, Grard La

Forest, Claire L'Heureux-Dub

Reasons given

Unanimous reasons by The Court

Laws Applied

Ford v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1988] 2 S.C.R. 712; Cusson v.

Robidoux, [1977] 1 S.C.R. 650; Forget v. Quebec (Attorney General),

[1988] 2 S.C.R. 90
Devine v Quebec (AG)[1], [1988] 2 S.C.R. 790 is a leading Supreme Court of
Canada decision on the constitutional protection of minority language rights.

Contents
[hide]

1Background
2Issues
3Judgment of the Court
4See also
5Notes
6External links

Background[edit]
Allan Singer was a Montreal printer who mostly served anglophone clientele. For over 30
years, his store front had a sign advertising his store that was written in English only. He
was charged under the Charter of the French Language for having an English sign.
Singer and several others brought an action to strike down provisions of the French
Language Charter and the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business,
which required commercial signs to be in French only, as being laws that were ultra
vires the province, and in violation of his freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the
Canadian Charter and section 3 of the Quebec Charter, right to equality under 15(1) of the
Canadian Charter, and his right against discrimination under section 10 of the Quebec
Charter.

Issues[edit]
The issues before the Supreme Court were:

1. whether the Language Charter was valid provincial law

2. whether the provisions prohibiting English signs
violated the right to freedom of expression
under section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter
3. and if so, could it be saved under section 1 of
the Canadian Charter.

Judgment of the Court[edit]

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court held that the Language Charter concerned a
valid provincial matter but it violated Singer's freedom of expression under section 2(b) of
the Canadian Charter as it prohibited the use of English.
The Court rejected Singer's argument that the law restricted mobility as protected under the
Charter. The law only established conditions for doing business but did not restrict anyone's
comings or goings.
On the federalism issue, the Court rejected Singer's argument that the law
constituted Criminal law under the Constitution Act, 1867. Though there was a prohibition
and a penalty, the Act as a whole it constituted a regulatory scheme directed as the
linguistic mode of certain commercial activities, and did not resemble any traditional
criminal matters based on morality or public order.

See also[edit]
List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Dickson Court)
 Notes[edit]
^ sometimes called Allan Singer Ltd. v. Quebec Attorney General

External links[edit]
Full text of Supreme Court of Canada decision
at LexUM and CanLII
Article critical of the decision "The implications of
accommodation", Policy Options, May 1990

This article about Canadian law is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Categories:
Canadian freedom of expression case law
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law
Supreme Court of Canada cases
Bilingualism in Canada
1988 in Canadian case law
Quebec language policy
Language case law
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