Canada’s top court will decide whether New Brunswick’s lieutenant-governor must be able to speak both English and French.
The Supreme Court of Canada announced Thursday that it would hear the application from the Acadian Society of New Brunswick.
Members of the society launched the initial court challenge after former lieutenant-governor Brenda Murphy was appointed to the role in 2019.
Murphy did not speak French fluently, and the society argued that appointing a person who was unilingual to the role violated sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In April 2022, Court of King’s Bench Justice Tracey DeWare sided with the society in a 52-page decision.
DeWare wrote that the lieutenant-governor in New Brunswick, the country’s only officially bilingual province, must be able to perform all aspects of the role in both English and French.
However, New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal overturned the ruling in May, saying the Charter “does not, in fact, impose such a requirement” for the lieutenant-governor to be fluently bilingual.
Louise Imbeault recently took over as New Brunswick’s lieutenant-governor after Murphy’s five-year term had ended.
There is no word on when the Supreme Court will hear the appeal.
