R. v. Caron

2011 SCC 5 (Released February 4, 2011)

Constitutional Law – Interim Costs Awards – Inherent Jurisdiction of the Courts – Inferior Courts

Here the Supreme Court held that Superior Courts can make interim costs awards to fund public interest litigation in the inferior provincial courts.

In the underlying litigation, the Respondent Caron had challenged the constitutional validity of Alberta Provincial Court proceedings on the basis that the court documents were solely in English. Caron pleaded that the provisions of the Alberta Languages Act, which purported to abrogate French Language rights in order to permit such unilingual documents, was unconstitutional.

At issue in the Supreme Court of Canada was the funding of Caron's litigation. The Provincial Court had made an interim costs order – an "Okanagan order", so named after the case which enables them – in favour of Caron. The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench ("ACQB") set aside this order on the ground that the Provincial Court lacked jurisdiction to make it. However, the ACQB then made its own Okanagan order to fund Mr. Caron's litigation in the Provincial Court. Ultimately, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the Crown's appeal of this order.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the language rights issue was of fundamental importance and touched on the validity of the entirety of Alberta's legal system. The court drew an explicit parallel to the interim award endorsed by the court in Okanagan. Further, it emphasized that the basis for such orders is a Superior Court's inherent...