Law Society of Upper Canada

The Law Society of Upper Canada is the professional association that oversees the legal profession in Ontario. Its mission is to protect the public by ensuring that lawyers and paralegals practising law in the province are properly licensed, trained and governed.

[TRANSLATION] “What struck me most occurred in the process of my becoming a lawyer in Ontario, i.e., getting admitted to the bar. I had to take two exams. The Law Society sent me reference materials in French to study for these exams. Except that the documents were full of grammatical and translation errors. They were of poor quality. In my exams (in French), some questions were difficult to understand for the same reasons. It seems as if this association, which promotes rights, is violating rights. I am left with the impression that French-language services are done by halves. It seems that for them, the real business is done in English. That, in any case, it’s not the end of the world if Francophones don’t understand. They assume that we’ll end up reading the English version in order to understand!”

A complainant

For some time now, the Law Society has been committed to providing services in French to its members and the public. However, the Commissioner’s Office has received a very large number of complaints about the Law Society. The complaints are of various types: distribution of English-only information to members, insufficient availability of professional development courses in French, and imbalance in the workload associated with the French-language bar examination.

French and English are the official languages of Ontario’s courts,²² and for the purposes of the French Language Services Act, the Office of the French Language Services Commissioner considers the Law Society to be an institution of the Legislature, which many people, including and especially some in the Law Society itself, dispute.

Consequently, it was with pride and enthusiasm that in October 2014, the Commissioner’s Office and the Law Society signed a protocol to address complaints²³ received about the Law Society’s French-language services. The Commissioner’s Office is delighted with the prevailing spirit of cooperation and the resulting commitment.

“This is an important confirmation of the rights of Ontarians, as well as a confirmation of the Law Society’s continuing commitment to access to justice in French.”

Janet Minor, Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada

This protocol demonstrates the Law Society’s leadership, not only in implementing the Rouleau-Le Vay report, but also in resolving the complaints received about the Society. The Commissioner’s Office is looking forward to working with the Law Society to resolve difficulties in obtaining services in French. An implementation plan has been developed, and some complaints have already been transferred to the Law Society. The Commissioner intends to review and analyze every response from the Law Society and to continue giving priority to access to justice in French.

Lastly, this agreement is also intended as a precedent for other professional associations. The Commissioner’s Office invites them to follow suit.

22. See sections 125 and 126 of the Courts of Justice Act.

23. Available online: https://csfontario.ca/en/articles/5108 (page consulted in May 2015).