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Supreme Court sides with unilingual traffic ticket claim

Alberta man should have received ticket in both official languages

The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed with an Alberta man that his ticket for an illegal left turn should be thrown out because it wasn’t offered in both official languages. The judges also said he deserves to have his legal costs reimbursed for raising an “important constitutional issue.” In a similar case last week, a New Brunswick judge acquitted a man of drunk driving after he claimed he wasn’t offered the option to be arrested in English. That’s despite the fact that the man, Donat Robichaud, is a francophone who lives in a predominantly French-speaking area of the province and he understood the police’s instructions.

Winnipeg Free Press

National Post

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