Ted Morton is the author of Strong and Free: My Journey in Alberta Politics and The Charter Revolution and the Court Party. Josh Dehaas is counsel with the Canadian Constitution Foundation.

In 2023, Parliament passed Bill C-13, which changed the Official Languages Act to require that all future Supreme Court of Canada justices are able to understand English and French “without the assistance of an interpreter.” These six words now disqualify about 90 per cent of Canadians outside of Quebec from being appointed to the court that often has the final say on our rights and freedoms, as well as on federalism disputes.

Proponents argue that aspiring judges can simply learn French. But learning a second language is only possible for those who are immersed in it from a young age or who put in enormous efforts as adults. That difficulty is borne out in Statistics Canada data showing the rate of bilingualism among anglophones outside Quebec has barely budged, from 7.2 per cent in 2001 to 7.4 per cent in 2021.

Those in favour also say the change is necessary because francophones can’t otherwise get a fair hearing. But is that true? Is the rare mistranslation, easily corrected, really worth eliminating the vast........

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