J-1.1 - Act respecting judgments rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada on the language of statutes and other instruments of a legislative nature

Updated to 20 February 2024

This document has official status.

chapter J-1.1

Act respecting judgments rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada on the language of statutes and other instruments of a legislative nature

1992, c. 37, s. 1.

WHEREAS, on 26 August 1977, the Charter of the French language was adopted by the National Assembly of Québec, and assented to;

Whereas Chapter III of the Charter enacts that French is the language of the legislature and the courts in Québec;

Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada, in a judgment rendered on 13 December 1979, in Procureur général de la province de Québec c. Peter M. Blaikie et autres, has declared Chapter III unconstitutional;

Whereas the Supreme Court, in two other judgments, namely in Procureur général de la province de Québec c. Peter Blaikie et autres rendered on 6 April 1981 and in Procureur général du Québec c. Albert Sinclair et autres rendered on 27 February 1992, further defined the scope of section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867 with respect to certain statutory instruments;

HER MAJESTY, with the advice and consent of the National Assembly of Québec, enacts as follows:

1. The Charter of the French language, and each of the Acts adopted thereafter, are replaced by their French text and English version, as published in the Gazette officielle du Québec or as tabled in the National Assembly on 14 December 1979, as Sessional Papers, Nos. 420 to 431, and as they will be published in the Gazette officielle du Québec. The French text of each of these Acts, together with its English version, forms a separate Act, and must be cited in the same manner as the Act it replaces.

Every such Act and every provision of such an Act has effect from the date the Act or provision it replaces is deemed to have taken effect.

Such an Act is not subject to Division V of the Interpretation Act, to the extent that the prescriptions of that division have already been followed in respect of the Act it replaces.

1979, c. 61, s. 1.

2. The Government may, by one or more regulations, replace by a general reference, without amendment, all the regulations and other instruments of a legislative nature the French text and English version of which were published in the Gazette officielle du Québec. Each instrument to which such a regulation refers remains nevertheless an instrument of the authority empowered to adopt, issue or publish that instrument according to the Act which authorizes it.

A regulation adopted under the first paragraph is not subject to the Regulations Act (chapter R-18.1). It comes into force on the day of its publication in the Gazette officielle du Québec, but each provision of the instruments to which it refers has effect on the same date as that provided for the corresponding provision of the replaced instruments.

1979, c. 61, s. 2; 1992, c. 37, s. 3.

3. In the case of a regulation or other instrument of a legislative nature which was required to be published in French and in English and was not, the authority empowered to adopt, issue or publish the instrument, as the case may be, may replace the instrument with a text which reproduces it, without amendment, this time in French and in English. Once the text is published in the Gazette officielle du Québec, each provision of the text may have effect on the same date as that provided for the corresponding provision of the replaced instrument.

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, no posting, notice, prior publication, approval or consultation is required.

1979, c. 61, s. 3; 1992, c. 37, s. 3.

4. Notwithstanding the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes and regulations, the text tabled in the National Assembly on 14 December 1979, as Sessional Papers, No. 432, has force of law from 1 September 1979, under the designation, “Revised Statutes of Québec” or “Revised Statutes of Québec, 1977”.

The English text of the statutes replaced by the Revised Statutes is considered not to have been repealed by the proclamation made by order in council 2046-79.

The English text of the statutes replaced by the Revised Statutes will be repealed on the date fixed by another proclamation, to be made in accordance with section 15 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes and regulations.

Until the date fixed in accordance with the third paragraph, a reference to a provision of the Revised Statutes will be considered, with respect to the English text, as also a reference to the corresponding provision of the statutes replaced by the Revised Statutes.

1979, c. 61, s. 4; 1999, c. 40, s. 164.

5. (Amendment integrated into c. I-16, s. 40.1).

1979, c. 61, s. 5.

6. The second paragraph of section 1, the second paragraph of section 2, the first paragraph of section 3 and the first paragraph of section 4 apply notwithstanding section 37 of the Charter of human rights and freedoms.

1979, c. 61, s. 6.

7. The sanction of chapter 61 of the annual statutes of 1979 has effect equally for the Acts contemplated in section 1.

1979, c. 61, s. 7 (part).

8. (This section ceased to have effect on 17 April 1987).

1982, c. 21, s. 1; U. K., 1982, c. 11, Sch. B, Part I, s. 33.

REPEAL SCHEDULE

In accordance with section 17 of the Act respecting the consolidation of the statutes and regulations (chapter R-3), chapter 61 of the statutes of 1979, in force on 1 November 1980, is repealed, except the second paragraph of section 7, effective from the coming into force of chapter J-1.1 of the Revised Statutes.