Court Of Appeal Expands The Range Of Fundamental Rights Of Legal Persons

In a judgment rendered on March 4, 2019 in 9147-0732 Québec Inc. c. Directeur des poursuites criminelles, 2019 QCCA 373, the Court of Appeal of Québec ruled for the first time on whether legal persons can avail themselves of the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, which is guaranteed under section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter). By finding in the affirmative, the majority of the Court has expanded the range of fundamental rights available to legal persons.

Factual and Procedural Background

The appellant corporation, which had been convicted of an offence under section 197.1 of the Building Act (Act), was ordered to pay the minimum mandatory fine prescribed by that section; in 2012, the minimum mandatory fine applicable to legal persons was $30,843. For purposes of the sentencing hearing, the parties had agreed to submit a single question to the trial judge - namely, whether section 12 of the Charter applied. They had postponed their debate on whether section 12 had in fact been infringed to a subsequent hearing, if necessary. The appellant corporation argued that, on the basis of the facts of the case and that it had only one shareholder, the minimum mandatory fine prescribed by section 197.1 of the Act was so disproportionate that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment within the meaning of section 12 of the Charter. At trial, the presiding justice of the peace dismissed the appellant corporation's argument and ordered it to pay the minimum fine, without, however, ruling on the application of...