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Doré v. Barreau du Québec

Doré v Barreau du Québec
Supreme Court of Canada
Hearing: January 26, 2011
Judgment: March 22, 2012
Full case name Gilles Doré v. Pierre Bernard, in his capacity as Assistant Syndic of the Barreau du Québec, Tribunal des professions and Attorney General of Quebec
Citations 2012 SCC 12
Docket No. 33594
Prior history Judgment against Doré in the Court of Appeal for Quebec.
Ruling Appeal dismissed.
Holding
R. v. Oakes does not apply to Charter issues in the context of administrative law. Instead, the question is whether the administrative decision reflects a proportionate balancing of the Charter rights and values at play.
Court Membership
Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin
Puisne Justices: Ian Binnie, Louis LeBel, Marie Deschamps, Morris Fish, Rosalie Abella, Louise Charron, Marshall Rothstein, Thomas Cromwell
Reasons given
Unanimous reasons by Abella J.
Deschamps and Charron JJ. took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.


Doré v Barreau du Québec is an administrative law decision by the Supreme Court of Canada regarding how to apply the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to adjudicative decisions, as opposed to statutory law. The Court found that the test in R. v. Oakes (which is used to determine whether a law that infringes a section of the Charter is unconstitutional under section 1 of the Charter) does not apply to administrative law decisions, although there is "conceptual harmony" between the review for reasonableness and the Oakes framework. Instead, the question is whether the administrative decision is reasonable, in that it reflects a proportionate balancing of the Charter rights and values at play. In addition to the parties (Doré, the Barreau du Québec, the Tribunal des professions, and the Attorney General of Quebec), the Court heard from the following intervenors: the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the Young Bar Association of Montreal.

On June 18 and 19, 2001, Gilles Doré appeared as a defence counsel in a criminal proceeding in the Superior Court of Quebec. During Doré's oral arguments, the judge said in reference to Doré: "an insolent lawyer is rarely of use to his client".

On June 21, 2001, in his written reasons dismissing Doré's arguments, the judge was highly critical of Doré's arguments and his manner and style in court. The judge called Doré's application "totally ridiculous", and that Doré "on or obsessed with his narrow vision of reality, which is not consistent with the facts, Mr. Doré has done nothing to help his client discharge his burden."

Later on June 21, 2001, Doré wrote an extremely insulting private letter to the judge, which included the following complaints:


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