This enactment amends the Department of Canadian Heritage Act to specify that, in exercising the powers and performing the duties and functions assigned to the Minister of Canadian Heritage under that Act, he or she shall maintain the Court Challenges Program.

Preamble

Whereas the Government of Canada first created the Court Challenges Program in 1978 to help official language minority communities take legal action to clarify and affirm their language rights;

Whereas, following the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the scope of the Court Challenges Program was broadened to include new language rights as well as human rights;

Whereas, in 1992, the Government of Canada cancelled the Court Challenges Program before restoring it in 1994 and then cancelling it and restoring it several times over the years;

Whereas it is of utmost importance for Canadians to be able to bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights, particularly such rights that are recognized and guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;

And whereas Parliament recognizes the need to entrench into law an independently administered program to give a voice to those who might not have the ability to bring court challenges forward in order to clarify, expand and breathe life into constitutional equality, linguistic rights and human rights, particularly such rights that are recognized and guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and to hold government to account;

Now, therefore, His Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

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  (a.‍1) establish and implement an independently administered program whose objective is to provide financial support to Canadians to bring before the courts test cases of national significance that aim to clarify and assert certain constitutional and quasi-constitutional official language rights and human rights; and

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Annual report

5.‍1 (1) On or before April 1 of each year, the independent organization responsible for administering the program established under paragraph 5(a.‍1) shall submit to the Minister a report on the administration of the program, in which it shall set out a summary of its organizational activities to demonstrate the impact of its work and provide a transparent picture of the direction, goals and financial performance of the program, as well as an overview of the cases that received funding in the previous calendar year.

Tabling in Parliament

(2) The Minister shall cause the annual report to be tabled before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives the report.