Quebec Small Claims Court in English: Your Rights Under Section 133

The Short Answer

If you're an individual (natural person), you have an absolute constitutional right to file small claims documents in English, present your case in English at the hearing, and receive service from the court in English. This isn't a policy or a courtesy — it's entrenched in Section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, which predates and overrides Quebec's language legislation.

What Section 133 Protects

Section 133 guarantees that either English or French may be used in any court in Quebec. For small claims purposes, this means:

• You can complete Form SJ-870E (the small claims application) in English
• You can file your exhibit list (Form SJ-840) and all supporting documents in English
• You can testify and argue in English at the hearing
• You can testify and argue in English; if someone needs an interpreter, request one through the court clerk before the hearing

English-language versions of the standard small claims forms are available through the court clerk's office and the GNJQ online portal. You don't need to request them specially — they're published alongside the French versions.

What About Bill 96?

Bill 96 (An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Québec), enacted in 2022, introduced a requirement for legal entities (corporations, partnerships) to attach certified French translations when filing court documents in English. This created concern that businesses would face additional costs and delays.

However, on August 12, 2022, the Superior Court of Québec granted a stay in Mitchell v. Procureur général du Québec, suspending this translation requirement while constitutional challenges proceed. As of 2026, the mandatory translation provision remains unenforced.

The practical situation:

• Individuals: File freely in English. No translation requirement, period.
• Businesses: File in English without mandatory French translation under the current judicial stay. This could change if the constitutional challenge resolves in the government's favour, but no timeline exists for that decision.

Navigating the GNJQ Portal in English

The Greffe numérique judiciaire du Québec (GNJQ) — Quebec's online court filing system — has English navigation, but some field labels, system messages, and terms of use appear in French or in mixed-language formats. This is where many English-speaking filers get stuck.

Common friction points:

• Account creation prompts that default to French before you select English
• Exhibit upload fields with French-only descriptions
• Fee confirmation screens that display amounts in French number formatting
• System maintenance notices published only in French

None of these create a legal barrier to filing — the forms themselves are available in English and the system accepts English-language documents. But navigating the interface takes patience when labels don't match what you expect.

Requesting an Interpreter

If a party or witness needs an interpreter, request interpreter services through the court clerk's office in your judicial district before the hearing date.

If you speak neither English nor French, you can also request an interpreter through the clerk well in advance.

The Real Challenge Isn't Language Law

The legal right to use English is clear. The practical challenge is that most guidance material, community resources, and legal information services in Quebec default to French. Éducaloi publishes English guides, and the court website has English pages, but the depth of step-by-step procedural guidance available in English is thin compared to what French-speaking claimants can access.

That gap is exactly what our Quebec Small Claims Filing Guide fills — a complete English-language walkthrough of every stage, with bilingual form field maps so you know exactly which GNJQ portal fields correspond to which parts of your claim.

See more Quebec guides →