NB Lieutenant-Governor Does Not Need to Be Bilingual, Says Court of Appeal

New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal says that while it is desirable for the province’s lieutenant-governor to be bilingual, the Constitution doesn’t impose such a requirement. In its decision released on May 23, the Court of Appeal reversed a lower court ruling that said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated constitutional language protections when he appointed unilingual anglophone Brenda Murphy as lieutenant-governor in 2019. The Acadian Society of New Brunswick had challenged Mr. Murphy’s appointment, arguing that it violated the right to communicate with and receive services from the government in either official language. But the Court of Appeal panel says that while residents of Canada’s only officially bilingual province have the right to receive services in either language, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not impose an obligation to appoint a bilingual lieutenant-governor....