Board of Directors makes donation to high-profile Alberta case: FCFA vows to support Caron case "all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary"
February 25th, 2011
Ottawa - The Board of Directors of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA) du Canada unanimously moved to support the Caron case, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, and is calling on Canadians to contribute to a fundraising campaign for this high-profile court action. Immediately after approving this motion, the 25 Board members opened their wallets and combined their resources for a donation to the case.
“There is much more at the heart of the Caron case than a simple English-only traffic ticket,” says FCFA President Marie-France Kenny. “What’s at stake here is whether or not language rights guaranteed to French-speaking citizens more than a century ago will be respected.”
Since 2003, French-speaking Albertan trucker Gilles Caron and his lawyers have successfully made the case that as early as 1869, French-speaking inhabitants of Rupert’s Land – which encompassed modern-day Alberta, Saskatchewan, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and parts of Labrador – were promised in a Royal Proclamation that their language rights would be respected upon entry into the Confederation.
This puts into question the legitimacy of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s current language laws and could result in these two provinces being compelled to translate all their laws.
“The Caron case is now before the Court of Appeal of Alberta and it is most probable that it will end up before the Supreme Court. We know, however, that neither Gilles Caron nor his lawyers have the necessary resources to cover all the expenses related to these next steps,” explains Ms. Kenny. “This is why the FCFA’s Board of Directors is taking action and calling on Canadians to support this case in the name of two core principles that make the pride of our country: linguistic duality and the protection of rights.”
Citizens who wish to contribute to the Caron case can do so by visiting this website: www.causecaron.ca.
The FCFA is a national organization that includes Francophone representative associations of nine provinces and the three territories, as well as ten national organizations. Its role is to defend and promote the rights and interests of the French-Speaking population outside Quebec.
Serge Quinty, Communications Director
Tel.: (613) 241-7600
Cell.: (613) 286-4820