Supreme Court of Canada (Image Credit: ID 12480000 © Howard Sandler | Dreamstime.com)

By The Canadian Press

Politics

Alberta francophone groups don’t want bilingualism requirements for Supreme Court to become political issue

Feb 5, 2026 | 10:12 AM

Two Alberta-based francophone groups say they don’t want to see bilingualism requirements for Canada’s top court become a political issue.

Alberta’s French lawyers association and the provincial chapter of the French Canadian Association say the requirement protects the rights of French speakers to access the justice system using their official language.

It comes after Premier Danielle Smith called for broad reforms on how judges are appointed.

In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney made public this week, Smith said Alberta should have more of a say on how judges get appointed and that her province would withhold future funding until it happens.

Smith also called on Ottawa to relax bilingualism requirements for the Supreme Court of Canada, saying the rules contribute to western alienation.

The president of the French lawyers association, Elsy Gagne, says she doesn’t understand Smith’s argument.

Gagne says future Supreme Court judges would probably want to become bilingual anyways so they can understand the hearings they oversee as they are carried out in both English and French.

She says she thinks the system for appointing isn’t perfect either but that politics should have no role in the appointment of judges.

(The Canadian Press)