Translating the printemps érable
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For more useful English-language sources on the conflict, see:
CUTV - broadcasting live from the protests nightly
Rouge Squad - Tactical Translation Team
Rabble.ca's Maple Spring Coverage
Renart Léveillé (editor, Le Globe) June 27 2012
Original French Text: http://leglobe.ca/blog/2012/06/loi-78-les-etudiants-grevistes-deboutes-par-un-juge-ayant-un-prejuge-defavorable-envers-eux/
Sad to say, the student federations lost the first round of their court challenge to Bill 78.
Justice François Rolland of the Québec Superior Court agreed with the government’s position on the request by the student federations for an emergency injunction. They had requested that the law be suspended until the court was able to give the case a full hearing.
But here’s the rub, the same judge (he is Chief Justice of the Superior Court) suggested in early May that students who are requesting injunctions to resume their classes should call on Québec’s Sollicitor General for help. The article in La Presse shows clearly that the man who is supposed to be neutral took a strong stand in the debate. Isn’t that odd, for someone in such an important position?
So now we should admit that his decision could be argued based on those facts. A judge with an obvious negative bias on a case to be decided, that isn’t good news for justice, and not for democracy either. (By the way, I invite you to read the excellent article by AmeriQuébec on this topic: http://www.ameriquebec.net/actualites/2012/05/02/greve-etudiante-lindependance-du-juge-en-chef-francois-rolland-remise-en-question-8776.qc)
Given all this, I wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that the there are links between François Rolland and members of the Québec Liberal Party…
P.S.: According to an article by the Québec Bar, Justice Rolland was named by Paul Martin, who was then Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. But I wonder, is it normal for the nomination of a judge to the Superior Court of Québec to be made by the Prime Minister?
I received several replies, including one from Lawyer Véronique Robert who confirms that Superior Court judges are indeed appointed by the federal government.
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Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.
