L’oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal V JJ and the Growing Complexity of Quebec’s Authorization Criteria

In this case comment, the author analyses L’Oratoire Saint-Joseph du Mont-Royal v JJ, a decision in which a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the authorization of a class action against two religious institutions in the context of alleged sexual abuse. Among other things, the decision highlights discrepancies between various justices as to how the criteria for authorization contained in the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure1 should be conceived and applied. Rather than clarifying the state of the law when it comes to authorization, it is arguable that the decision — which contains vigorous dissenting opinions by the Court’s civilian members — complicates matters further for lower court judges, practitioners, and litigants alike. The common law majority’s expansive approach to assessing the arguable case criterion of article 575(2) CCP also runs the risk of giving the green light to class actions that are deficient on their very face, contrary to the interests of proportionality.