Quebec will challenge on appeal the Superior Court judgment which allows smoking a cigarette on stage as part of an artistic performance.
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On May 29, the decision of Judge Jean-François Émond marked the end of a legal saga lasting several years for the three Quebec theaters which led this fight.
The provincial government does not seem to agree.
“This is unfortunately the news confirmed this morning. There is unanimous dismay in the cultural community in the face of such an aberration,” said the co-director general of Trident, Marc-Antoine Malo, who received the request for authorization to appeal.
Last month, many spoke of relief after three years of effort.
Three theaters
The Trident, La Bordée and Premier Acte theaters were forced to pay a fine of more than $500 for allowing people to smoke inside a closed public place between 2017 and 2019.
In a decision rendered in 2021, Judge Yannick Couture ruled that smoking on stage was not an expressive gesture that carries a message and that it therefore does not benefit from the protection offered by the Canadian and Quebec charters of rights. and freedoms.
Supported by the entire artistic community, the three theatres had appealed this decision. Judge Jean-François Émond of the Superior Court of Quebec had finally ruled in their favour.
“… the Court considers that the judge committed an error of law and a manifest and decisive error in concluding that in the present case, the act of smoking on stage in the plays in question did not fall within the scope of protection of the Charters,” he wrote.
The battle will continue, however, and it is unclear what arguments will be used.
“All agree, first and foremost the appellants, that the act of smoking in a public place for the simple pleasure of doing so does not constitute an expressive activity. […] However, when this same act of smoking in a public place can be qualified as a protected expressive activity, because it tends to transmit a message having a meaning, the combined effect of this law and this regulation restricts the right to freedom of expression,” also added Justice Émond.
Not reasonable
According to the magistrate, the burden of demonstrating that the rule of law aims to achieve a real and urgent objective and that it is proportionate rests on the shoulders of the State.
“It does not seem reasonable to completely prohibit the act of smoking a cigarette in all circumstances in the context of a theatrical performance. This ban does not respond in a rational and intelligent manner to the issues linked to tobacco use and the objectives that the legislator pursues in this regard.
