Brent Tyler

Last updated

Brent Tyler was a lawyer in Quebec, Canada, known for his frequent court challenges to "Bill 101", Quebec's Charter of the French Language. After several temporary disbarments from the Quebec Bar Association, he no longer appears in the directory of licensed attorneys in Quebec as of 2023.

Contents

Notable legal cases involving Tyler include:


Disbarments

Tyler was temporarily disbarred in March 2016 for having not filed financial reports with the Quebec Bar Association. [9] He was temporarily disbarred in November 2011 for not completing the continuing education requirements. [10] . He was further disbarred for three months in 2019. [11]

Political activities

Tyler was an unsuccessful candidate for the Equality Party in the 1994 Quebec provincial election in the riding of Westmount–Saint-Louis. He came fourth with 727 votes (2.17%), compared to the winner, Jacques Chagnon, who received 26,478 votes (79.2%). [12] (The Equality Party had won the Westmount-Saint-Louis riding in the previous election. [13] )

From 2001 to 2004, he was president of the pro-English language lobby group, Alliance Quebec . His term as president was marked by infighting and questioning of the organization's continued relevance. [14] During his term as president, Alliance Quebec membership dropped by 50% to 1554 members, its lowest-ever number. [15] Also during his term, grants and donations to Alliance Quebec dropped from nearly $950,000 per year to less than $500,000. During his Alliance Quebec tenure, the press characterized him as having a "brazen, ramrod persona" [16] and criticized him for his "hair-trigger temper". [17] He resigned as president 4 months before his term was finished. [18] The year after he resigned, Alliance Quebec ran out of money and closed down. [19]

In June, 2014, Tyler announced in a press conference at the EMSB Headquarters that he will be running for the position of chair for the English Montreal School Board. [20] He dropped out of the race by email in August 2014. [21]

Tyler is a member of the Special Committee for Canadian Unity, a lobby group that existed in the 1990s and revived for one press conference during the 2014 Quebec election to encourage the federal government to intervene in the election. [22]

Tyler states that his law practice has suffered due to his political activities, including his outspoken support for issues such as the partition of Quebec [2] and his controversial Bill 101 cases. [23] Some of his fees for his Bill 101 cases have been paid for by fund-raising events and donations by groups opposed to Bill 101, including: the National Citizens Coalition (then headed by future Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper), National Post editor Diane Francis, the lobby group headed by Howard Galganov and the Montreal weekly newspaper, "The Suburban". [24]

Notes

  1. 1 2 McGill Daily (17 February 2003) [ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 Montreal Mirror (30 October 1997) Archived September 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Les Entreprises W.F.H. Ltee v. Attorney-General of Quebec (24 October 2001)
  4. ↑ Gosselin (Tutor of) v. Quebec (Attorney General), (2005) 1 S.C.R. 238, 2005 SCC 15 Archived March 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Montreal Hour (5 February 2004) Archived 18 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ United Nations Human Rights Committee, 5 August 2005
  7. ↑ Supreme Court of Canada: Nguyen v. Quebec (Education, Recreation and Sports), 2009 SCC 47 Archived January 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ McQuillian Family Trust v. Tyler, 2014
  9. ↑ CJAD News, June 10, 2016
  10. ↑ Montreal Gazette (Nov. 10, 2011) Archived November 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Barreau du Quebec - Notice of Disbarment - 13 November 2019.
  12. ↑ Director-General of Elections of Quebec Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ Director-General of Elections of Quebec Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Montreal Gazette, 29 April 2002 Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "La Presse (5 December 2003)". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  16. ↑ Montreal Hour (5 February 2004) Archived 18 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ Montreal Gazette(19 January 2003) Archived January 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ Don Macpherson, Montreal Gazette, Feb. 3, 2004 Archived March 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ "Ottawa Citizen (20 May 2005)". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
  20. ↑ "The Suburban News | Brent Tyler steps in". thesuburban.com. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  21. ↑ CJAD 800 (26 August 2014)
  22. ↑ Website of Peter Goldring, MP
  23. ↑ Montreal Gazette (6 September 2007)
  24. ↑ LeDevoir (23 June 2000)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Canada</span> Highest court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts. The Supreme Court is bijural, hearing cases from two major legal traditions and bilingual, hearing cases in both official languages of Canada.

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause, sometimes referred to as the override power, and it allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to temporarily override sections 2 and 7–15 of the Charter.

<i>Ford v Quebec (AG)</i> Supreme Court of Canada case

Ford v Quebec (AG), [1988] 2 SCR 712 is a landmark Supreme Court of Canada decision in which the Court struck down part of the Charter of the French Language, commonly known as "Bill 101". This law had restricted the use of commercial signs written in languages other than French. The court ruled that Bill 101 violated the freedom of expression as guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Morgentaler</span> Canadian champion of womens right to safe, legal abortion

Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler, was a Polish-born Canadian physician and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War II, Morgentaler was imprisoned at the Łódź Ghetto and later at the Dachau concentration camp.

The Charter of the French Language, also known in English as Bill 101, Law 101, or Quebec French Preference Law, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government. It is the central legislative piece in Quebec's language policy, and one of the three statutory documents Quebec society bases its cohesion upon, along with the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Civil Code of Quebec. The Charter also protects the Indigenous languages of Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1995 Quebec referendum</span> Historic vote on the independence of Quebec from Canada

The 1995 Quebec referendum was the second referendum to ask voters in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec whether Quebec should proclaim sovereignty and become an independent country, with the condition precedent of offering a political and economic agreement to Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equality Party (Quebec)</span> Political party in Canada

The Equality Party was a political party in Quebec, Canada, that promoted the use of English in Quebec on an equal basis with French. Four Equality Party members were elected to Quebec's National Assembly in 1989, as part of an anglophone reaction to changes made by the governing Liberals to Quebec's language law. The party had no success in subsequent elections, and stopped organizing after the 2003 Quebec election.

The legal dispute over Quebec's language policy began soon after the enactment of Bill 101, establishing the Charter of the French Language, by the Parliament of Quebec in 1977.

Alliance Quebec (AQ) was a group formed in 1982 to lobby on behalf of English-speaking Quebecers in the province of Quebec, Canada. It began as an umbrella group of many English-speaking organizations and institutions in the province, with approximately 15,000 members. At its height in the mid-1980s, the group had a network of affiliated anglophone groups throughout the province. However, a prolonged decline in influence, group cohesion, membership and funding ultimately led to its closure in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Montreal School Board</span> Largest English-speaking Quebec school board

The English Montreal School Board is one of five public school boards on the island of Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Mulcair</span> Canadian politician and former leader of the Opposition

Thomas Joseph Mulcair is a Canadian retired politician who served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2012 to 2017 and leader of the Official Opposition from 2012 to 2015. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2007 and sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Outremont until 2018.

The Sault Ste. Marie language resolution was a government motion passed on January 29, 1990 by Sault Ste. Marie City Council, the governing body of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, which resolved that English was the sole working language of city government. The resolution ignited a national controversy which made the city a flashpoint in the Meech Lake Accord debate.

Anne Lagacé Dowson is a Canadian radio journalist.

Marc Nadon LL.L. is a supernumerary judge on the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal. He has practised law in both Quebec and the United Kingdom, focusing on maritime and transportation law. He was also an arbitrator and former lecturer in law at the Université de Sherbrooke. Nadon was nominated by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to be a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada in October 2013. Following controversy about the appointment, the federal government referred the constitutionality of the appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. In their decision in Reference Re Supreme Court Act, ss 5 and 6, the Supreme Court quashed his appointment, concluding he did not meet the eligibility criteria provided in the Supreme Court Act.

The Parti de la Liberté de Choix was a political party in the Canadian province of Quebec. Focused on anglophone rights issues, it ran candidates in provincial elections from 1979 to 1982.

Freedom of religion is a constitutionally protected right in Canada, allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference, but it was not always so.

Townshippers' Association is a non-partisan, non-profit organization mandated to support the rights of English-speaking people in the historical Eastern Townships region of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is known in French as the Association des Townshippers. The association has its head office in Lennoxville and a branch office in Knowlton.

Clément Gascon is a Canadian jurist, who was nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 3, 2014, and officially appointed the Court on June 9, 2014. He officially retired from the court on September 15, 2019.

<i>Act respecting the laicity of the State</i> Statute of Quebec

The Act respecting the laicity of the State, introduced and commonly referred to as Bill 21 or Law 21, is a statute passed by the National Assembly of Quebec in 2019 which asserts that Quebec is a lay state. It prohibits the wearing of religious symbols by certain public employees in positions of authority and grandfathers in those who were already in office when the bill was introduced. The statute operates despite the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and also notwithstanding certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

English-speaking Quebecers, also known as Anglo-Quebecers, English Quebecers, or Anglophone Quebecers or simply Anglos in a Quebec context, are a linguistic minority in the francophone province of Quebec. According to the 2011 Canadian census, 599,225 people in Quebec declare English as a mother tongue. When asked, 834,950 people reported using English the most at home.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.