Purpose
Section 16.1 makes reference to a need for institutions for both language groups, including educational institutions, and it seemingly gives the provincial government powers to protect the right. This is not completely revolutionary in that this merely entrenches laws already found in An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick (1981), as noted in the 2001 Court of Appeal case Charlebois v. Mowat. The section can be seen as providing "collective rights," and one critic charged that a deeper meaning to the section would have to be decided by Canadian courts.
In Charlebois v. Mowat, the court ruled that section 16.1, as well as subsections 16(2) and 18(2), require bilingual municipal laws when the minority language population of a municipality is significant. The ruling was made primarily on the basis of the court's interpretation of subsection 18(2)), but in its ruling the court also stated that section 16.1 is "remedial", meaning that it is supposed to fix historical problems. (A related case later went to the Supreme Court as Charlebois v. Saint John (City).)
Read more about this topic: Section 16.1 Of The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms
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