Back to court: Simon Jolin-Barrett throws spades at the Chief Justice

In the middle of the election campaign, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrett took advantage of the return to justice in Montreal to launch a spade of court cases against the Quebec court’s chief justice.

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“Even the most skeptics cannot deny the influence of the French language in Quebec. The justice system is an integral part of the state of Quebec, and in this sense it must do its fair share to protect and defend it,” the minister said Thursday during a speech to the legal community at a Montreal courthouse.

Controversy

The comment echoes his spat with Chief Justice Lucy Rondeau, who was unhappy that he was trying to ban an almost formal bilingual requirement for magistrates.

Praising the achievements of the coalition Avenir Québec, Mr. Jolin-Barrette later praised the creation of special courts for sexual and domestic violence.

“We feel a real commitment to this plan,” he said, not without ignoring the chief justice’s strong opposition to it.

Immediately, the politician appealed to the court to reduce the delays, while he is currently M.^me Rondo wants to reduce the work of magistrates. Two months ago, the politician said the decision was “against the efforts being made”. […] In order to make the judicial system more efficient.

Media under attack

The Chief Justice, for his part, wanted to use his platform to express his two main concerns about the justice system: decorum before the courts and media coverage.

“You see heavy media coverage of court judges and court rulings, both traditional and social media,” he said.

He refers to the case of Judge Mathieu Poliquin, who pardoned engineer Simon Hoole, convicted of sexual assault, without reference to him.

“We have […] Our citizens, fellow citizens, I apologize, there is still work to do to better control the operation of our system,” he thanked several speakers, but not Simon Jolin-Barrett.

The speech was at odds with the new chief justice of Quebec’s superior court, Marie-Anne Paquette, who expressed concern that the staffing shortage “causes real breakdowns in service, which have real consequences for people’s lives.” He then thanked professional journalists who fight against misinformation.