R v Mercure is a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1988, dealing with language rights in the province of Saskatchewan.
The court granted the appeal, holding that the appellant, Père André Mercure, had the right to use French in the Saskatchewan courts, and that provincial legislation had to be enacted in both languages. Those rights were based on a provision of the old North-West Territories Act which the majority held was still in force in Saskatchewan. However, the court rejected the appellant's argument that those rights were constitutionally entrenched in Saskatchewan. Since those rights were set out in an ordinary statute, the Legislature could amend them by provincial legislation.
Following the decision, the Saskatchewan Legislature passed The Language Act, which preserved the rights to use French in the Legislative Assembly and the courts, but repealed the obligation to enact all laws in French. Instead, The Language Act provided that the Legislature could choose to enact laws in English only, or bilingually.
One unusual feature of the case is that the appellant, Père Mercure, died before the Supreme Court could hear the appeal. The court allowed three francophone associations to argue the appeal in place of Mercure.
Facts of the case Père André Mercure was a Roman Catholic priest in The Battlefords area of Saskatchewan. He had long been a leader in the promotion of French culture in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Amongst other initiatives, he had developed Scouting programs in French for Fransaskois youth, as well as organizing travel programs for young francophones, such as Saskatchewan étudiante voyage (SEV).Société Historique de la Saskatchewan, « Il y a 30 ans le Père Mercure nous quittait », L'Eau Vive, 5 mai 2016.Laurier Gareau, « Le Cas Mercure », Musée Virtuel Francophone de la Saskatchewan: Revue historique, vol 11 – numéro 3 (mars 2001).Marc Poirier, « Quand l'Alberta et la Saskatchewan étaient bilingues… », Le Franco, 7 octobre 2023.
Mercure strongly believed that French was constitutionally entrenched in Saskatchewan. Some said that when driving, he regularly sped past the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment in hopes of getting a speeding ticket which he could use to raise the issue of the constitutional status of French.W.H. McConnell, "Bilingualism on the Prairies: The Constitutional Status of French in Saskatchewan", 1989 53-1 Saskatchewan Law Review 143, 1989 CanLIIDocs 355, pp. 143–144. (He was also known to "have a heavy foot behind the wheel".Amy Jo Ehman, The Evolution of the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judges Association, 2018), pp. 93–94.) Traffic tickets had been used in other provinces at that period to raise similar issues of language status.
Late in 1980 Mercure received a speeding ticket from an RCMP officer. The ticket was written entirely in English. He consulted a local fransaskois lawyer, Raymond Blais. They decided that they would use the ticket to make the argument that Mercure had the right to have a trial conducted in French, and to raise the issue of the constitutional status of French in Saskatchewan.
Decisions of the Saskatchewan courts
Provincial Court
The trial on the speeding ticket occurred in the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan before Judge Deshaye, beginning with submissions on the use of French in the trial.R v Mercure, 1981 CanLII 2462, 44 Sask.R. 43 (SK PC). Blais argued that s. 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, s. 110 of the North-West Territories Act of 1886, and the Saskatchewan Act together constitutionally entrenched French in Saskatchewan. He relied on the point that Saskatchewan had been carved out of the North-West Territories in 1905, and therefore submitted that the previous legislation from the North-West Territories had a continuing effect, via s. 16 of the Saskatchewan Act.Thomson Irvine, "Language Rights in Saskatchewan", 2016 79-2 Saskatchewan Law Review 133, 2016 CanLIIDocs 4605, pp. 142–148.
Based on that position, Blais argued that Mercure had the following rights: the right to use French in the trial; the right to have the trial conducted in French; the right to have the trial conducted by a judge who could understand French and could conduct the trial in French; the right to have the relevant statutes available in French.
Applying the fourth point, Blais argued that the following five statutes had to be bilingual for Mercure's trial: The Vehicle Act; The Summary Offences Procedure Act; The Interpretation Act; The Saskatchewan Evidence Act; The Provincial Court Act.
His primary argument was based on s. 110 of the North-West Territories Act, the federal statute that had been in force prior to the creation of Saskatchewan by the Saskatchewan Act. That statute provided:
Blais argued that s. 16 of the Saskatchewan Act, which had continued in force the laws applicable in the North-West Territories prior to the creation of Saskatchewan, meant that s. 110 applied to the Legislative Assembly and the courts of Saskatchewan.Saskatchewan Act, SC 1905, c. 42, s. 16. His alternative argument was that s. 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which provides that French can be used in "any court of Canada" gave Mercure the same rights with respect to the courts in Saskatchewan as in federal courts.
The Crown prosecutor, David Arnot, argued that s. 110 of the North-West Territories Act was not in force in Saskatchewan and was not continued by s. 16 of the Saskatchewan Act. Alternatively, by its terms s. 110 only applied to the courts of the North-West Territories and did not have any continuing effect for the new courts created by the province. Express language would be needed to provide for language guarantees, as had been done when Manitoba became a province through the Manitoba Act, 1870.
Judge Deshaye ruled on these submissions on April 15, 1981. He rejected the argument based on s. 133 entirely, holding that in the context of that section, "court of Canada" meant federal courts only.
On the other part of the argument, Deshaye did agree that s. 16 of the Saskatchewan Act had carried forward s. 110. He held that s. 110 clearly gave rights, and express language in a subsequent statute would be needed to extinguish those rights. However, he concluded that s. 110 only had continuing application to the courts, but not for the new provincial Legislative Assembly. As well, it gave the right to use French, but not the right to a trial conducted entirely in French, by a bilingual judge. Since s. 110 did not apply to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, there was no right to French versions of the statutes.
Based on Deshaye's ruling, Mercure advised the court that he wished to stand mute. He declined to enter a plea or to call evidence. As trial judge, Deshaye entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf, in English. The Crown called its evidence, and the court convicted Mercure on the speeding charge.Mercure v. Saskatchewan, 24 DLR (4th) 193, 1985 CanLII 2630 (SK CA).
Court of Appeal
Mercure appealed the case to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the highest court in the province. The court set a five-judge panel to hear the case, which was an indication of the importance the court saw in the case; it normally sits in panels of three judges. The court took four years to hear and decide the case, rendering its decision in October 1985.
Blais continued to represent Mercure. The province was represented on the appeal by two counsel from the Constitutional Law Branch of the Saskatchewan Department of Justice, James MacPherson and Cheryl Crane.
The Court of Appeal unanimously upheld Judge Deshaye's decision, although with a 4–1 split on reasons. Chief Justice Bayda wrote the decision of the majority, largely taking the same approach as Deshaye. He made an additional point, namely that since s. 110 was an ordinary statute, it could be repealed or amended by the Legislature. He concluded that it was not constitutionally entrenched.
Justices Cameron and Tallis each wrote short concurring decisions, generally agreeing with the chief justice. Tallis commented that the decision would not be welcomed by the Francophone community in Saskatchewan and was not consistent with the recognition of French and English as official languages in Canada, but pointed out that the Legislature could expand French language rights in the courts, including retroactively.
Justice Hall agreed that the appeal should be dismissed, but dissented on the reasons. He took the view that s. 16 was solely transitional, to cover the period between the creation of Saskatchewan and the establishment of new provincial laws and institutions. It therefore did not carry forward s. 110 for courts created by the province.
The Court of Appeal thus unanimously dismissed the appeal, but by a 4–1 split held that s. 110 continued to apply to the Saskatchewan courts.
Decision of the Supreme Court
Death of Père Mercure pending appeal
Mercure applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, which a three-judge panel of the court granted on January 27, 1986. However, Mercure died of cancer before the court could hear the appeal. Three francophone associations then applied for leave to be substituted as parties and to be allowed to continue the appeal, even though it was legally moot on the death of the accused.Andrew K. Lokan and Michael Fenrick, Constitutional Litigation in Canada (Thomson Reuters: looseleaf, current to November 2025), para. 3:23, note 2. The court appointed the Fédération des francophones hors Québec, the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta and the Association culturelle franco-canadienne de la Saskatchewan as interveners and principal parties to argue the appeal.R v Mercure, SCC docket 19688, July 7, 1986. A panel of five judges heard and decided the application: Chief Justice Dickson and Justices Beetz, McIntyre, Chouinard and La Forest.
Ruling of the Supreme Court The Supreme Court heard the appeal on November 26, 1986, with a full court of nine judges. Counsel for the francophone groups who now had carriage of the appeal were Michel Bastarache and Roger Lepage. Counsel for Saskatchewan were Robert G. Richards and Cheryl Crane.R v Mercure, 1 SCR 234, p. 244.
The court allowed the appeal on February 25, 1988, in a 6-2 decision, setting aside the late Père Mercure's conviction on the speeding ticket. The court also answered the various constitutional questions raised by the case.R v Mercure (SCC), pp. 244, 281–283.
Majority decision: Justice La Forest
Justice La Forest gave the majority decision, with Chief Justice Dickson and Justices Beetz, Lamer, Wilson and Le Dain concurring. He ruled that language rights enjoyed an almost constitutional status and could only be repealed by a "clear legislative pronouncement".McConnell, "Bilingualism on the Prairies: The Constitutional Status of French in Saskatchewan", pp. 144–146.Irvine, "Language Rights in Saskatchewan", pp. 148–151.R v Mercure, pp. 267–268. He agreed with the Saskatchewan courts that s. 110 continued to be in force in Saskatchewan,R v Mercure, pp. 257–258. and with Chief Justice Bayda's comment that the language rights in s. 110 were not specifically linked to any institutions.R v Mercure, p. 263. He also agreed that s. 110 did not confer a right to a trial in French. The accused could speak French, but the judge could use an interpreter. The right to use French did, however, include the right to have anything said in French to be entered into the court's records in that language, and not by a translated version.R v Mercure, pp. 273–276.
La Forest also agreed with Bayda in the Court of Appeal on the status of s. 110. It was an ordinary statute, not constitutionally entrenched. The Legislature could amend or repeal s. 110, provided the amending legislation was enacted in both languages.R v Mercure, pp. 273–276.