View cases - Stewart McKelvey

- 82 -in enacting s. 9.1, as evidenced by the following comment made by the Minister ofJustice at the time the Charter was passed:[TRANSLATION] The purpose of s. 9.1 is to temper the absoluteness ofthe freedoms and rights set out in ss. 1 through 9 both by imposing limits,which are set out in the first paragraph, on the holders of those rights andfreedoms in relation to other citizens, and by establishing, in the secondparagraph, the principle that the legislature may impose limits in relation tothe community at large.2004 SCC 47 (CanLII)(Journal des débats: Commissions parlementaires, 3rd Sess., 32nd Leg.,December 16, 1982, at p. B-11609)152 In light of this comment and the reasons given by this Court for its decisionin Ford, supra, it can be seen that s. 9.1 of the Quebec Charter is a tool for interpretingrights and freedoms that is similar to, but different in a number of ways from, s. 1 of theCanadian Charter. Their similarity becomes apparent in a public law context, in whichstate actions that infringe upon rights may be justified under either s. 1 of the CanadianCharter or the second paragraph of s. 9.1 of the Quebec Charter, two provisions whichare subject to a similar test: Ford, supra, at p. 770. The important difference, however,is that the first paragraph of s. 9.1, insofar as it does not require that the infringement ofa right or freedom result from the application of the law, applies only to private lawrelationships, that is, to infringements of the rights and freedoms of private individualsby other private individuals: see Chevrette, supra, at p. 466.153 This Court had occasion to apply s. 9.1 of the Quebec Charter in a privatelaw context in Aubry v. Éditions Vice-Versa inc., [1998] 1 S.C.R. 591. In that case, theclaimant had brought an action in civil liability against the appellants, a photographerand a publisher, for taking a photograph of her sitting on a step in front of a building andpublishing it in a magazine without her consent. She alleged that the appellants’ conduct