The Supreme Court of Canada was created by legislation passed by Parliament in 1875, but did not become Canada's final court of appeal until 1949. The power allocated to the Supreme Court of Canada concedes court decisions to be binding on all levels of court in the country in order to create a unifying influence on law. Accordingly, the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada directly affect the law that governs Canadian society. As the final court of appeal and the highest legal authority in the Canadian justice system, should the Supreme Court justices be required to understand both official languages in Canada? Indeed, it must be a required qualification for the Supreme Court justices to be proficient in both English and French. The demand of the qualification is relevant because they represent the highest court in the land and should reflect the value of linguistic …show more content…
Moreover, subsection 16(3) continues that Parliament must seek to "advance the equality of status or use of English and French" (GRAMMOND 3 page 6). The intention of subsection 16(3) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is to exclude the adoption of a regime that either allocates more privileges to one chosen language, weakens the legitimacy of one language by making the non-dominant language official in certain regions of the country or only a requirement for regional governments, or gives the non-dominant language accommodation rights without an equality of status and use (GRAMMOND 3 page 56). On account of legislation, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Supreme Court must respect the linguistic duality in Canada and hear cases in both official