OTTAWA — The clerk of the Supreme Court of Canada says that from now on, only judgments written in English and French will appear on the Court’s website.

Friday’s statement by the registrar’s office is the latest development in a controversy over access to the highest court’s landmark decisions in both official languages.

Between 1877 and 1970, the court issued approximately 6,000 decisions that were not translated. It is said that some were in French, others in English and others in both languages.

Judgments began to appear in English and French after the adoption of the Official Languages ​​Act.

Since 2019, the registrar had made all judgments in the court’s history accessible via his website.

Judgments from before 1970 have been removed from the Supreme Court site, and the clerk said Friday that anyone who wants access can search other open databases online.

Additionally, on the occasion of the court’s 150th anniversary next year, the clerk’s office will begin translating the “most historically or jurisprudentially significant pre-1970 decisions,” the release said.

“They will then be available in French and English on the Court’s website. These translations will, however, not be official, as they cannot be approved by the judges who ruled on the cases, all of whom are deceased .”

Earlier this month, the registrar’s office received a legal opinion from a Quebec civil rights group challenging the court’s refusal to translate its landmark decisions.

Collective Rights Quebec filed the request in Federal Court in Montreal.

The rights group first filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Official Languages. In response, the Supreme Court held that the Official Languages ​​Act does not apply retroactively.

In September, Commissioner Raymond Théberge ruled that even if the law does not apply retroactively, any decision published on the Court’s website must be available in both official languages. Failure to translate the judgments was a breach of the law, he said, giving the High Court 18 months to correct the situation.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner told reporters in June that decisions prior to 1970 were primarily of historical interest, arguing that they constituted “a legal cultural heritage made obsolete by the evolution of Quebec and Canadian law.”

The court does not have the resources to carry out such an operation, he said, adding that it would take a decade and cost more than $20 million.

In a statement released Friday, the Clerk’s Office said it “continues to use public funds responsibly while ensuring public access to the Court and its work.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 8, 2024.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press