Reasons for Judgment — Wagner J. (Abella, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Gascon, Côté and Brown JJ. concurring)
Wagner J. — The appellant argues that the broad exclusion clause in the accident insurance contract to the effect that the insurer will pay no benefits if an accident occurred while the insured was participating in an indictable offence may be set up against the heirs of the insured.
In this case, the offences of which the insured could have been convicted had he not died are hybrid offences that the Crown may choose to prosecute either as summary conviction offences or as indictable offences.
For the reasons given by the Court of Appeal, we are all of the opinion that the exclusion from the insurance policy based on art. 2402 of the Civil Code of Québec may not be set up against the heirs of the insured, as that article must, even in light of s. 34(1) of the federal Interpretation Act , R.S.C. 1985, c. I-21 , be interpreted having regard to the principles of interpretation that apply in the area of insurance law so as to favour the precision and certainty of the grounds for exclusion in such matters.
On this basis, art. 2402 of the Civil Code of Québec concerns only indictable offences, those that are punishable exclusively by way of indictment, and not, as in this case, hybrid offences.
For these reasons, the appeal is dismissed with costs.
Statutes and regulations cited
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Unresolved citations
- s. 34(1) of the federal Interpretation Act ¶ 3