Saturday, April 20, 2024

Governor-General unable to speak French: Challenge to the appointment of Marie-Simon in court

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Tony Vaughn
Tony Vaughn
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A group of citizens petitioned the Supreme Court to invalidate Mary Simon’s appointment as Governor-General of Canada, saying her inability to speak French – one of the two official languages ​​- violated the Canadian constitution.

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“It’s a Canada Day gift for Mr. Trudeau,” says Frederic Bastian sarcastically, adding that the legal reasons behind this request for a declaratory ruling are serious. The founder of Justice of Quebec and historian as well as former deputy PQ Etienne-Alexis Boucher is behind this application filed yesterday in the Court of Quebec.

They have some against appointing Marie Simon, an Inuit who speak English and Inktot, but not the Molière language, which is a “flagrant violation” of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Article 16 of the country’s supreme law states that the English and French languages ​​”have the same status, rights and privileges,” while Article 20 asserts that the public has the right to communicate in the language of its choice with federal institutions.

For example, New Brunswick

It is a New Brunswick court ruling that the appointment of a monolingual English vice-governor violates the Canadian Charter which gives Mr. Bastian the impression that their approach is well founded in law. That decision, made in the spring, was appealed by the federal government.

In addition to an advisory group responsible for finding a successor to Julie Payette, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II agreed to appoint Marie Simon, ignoring Canadian bilingualism. On the contrary, “It is hard to imagine that the Governor-General of Canada cannot speak English,” is it written in the application.

The Supreme Court should therefore declare Marie Simon’s appointment “null, unenforceable and invalid”, if it agrees with Judge Quebec’s arguments.

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For example, New Brunswick

Frederic Bastian relies on a New Brunswick court ruling that the appointment of a monolingual English vice-governor violated the Canadian Charter in the belief that their approach was well founded in law. This decision, made in the spring, was appealed by the federal government.

In addition to the advisory group responsible for finding a successor to Julie Payette, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II eventually agreed to appoint Mary Simon, ignoring Canadian bilingualism. upside down,

“It is hard to imagine that the Governor General of Canada cannot speak English,” it is written in the application.

Frédéric Bastien also points out that there has never been a French representative of the Queen who speaks his one language, “that would not be possible.”

The Supreme Court should therefore declare Marie Simon’s appointment “null, unenforceable and invalid” if she agrees with the arguments of the judge of Quebec and the Association for the Defense of Individual and Collective Rights of Quebec.

fancy dinner

Already challenged when she was nominated in July 2021 due to her lack of knowledge of French, the 74-year-old was the target of widespread criticism two weeks ago when she left a nearly $100,000 bill for catering costs. During a trip to the Middle East in March, Marie Simon and 29 of her guests spent $93,118 on food on a Royal Canadian Airbus flight.

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When she was appointed, Mrs. Simon promised to learn French and spoke a few words in Quebec last November during the throne speech after Justin Trudeau’s re-election.

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