Supreme Court of Canada orders new trial for B.C. man not offered French language proceeding

The Supreme Court of Canada has strengthened the right to a trial in English or French, by throwing out a sexual-assault conviction even though the accused raised the language issue for the first time on appeal.The court split five to two, with all three Quebec judges in the majority. While both sides affirmed the importance of bilingual courts, they disagreed on how the court should go about determining whether the language issue caused a miscarriage of justice.