A national francophone group is taking the federal government to court over its decision to cancel the court challenges program that helped minority groups fight for their rights.

The program set aside $5 million a year to pay the legal fees of groups that wanted to challenge government decisions that affected their rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The program was cancelled as part of a package of federal government budget cuts earlier this month.

Now some minority groups want to take Ottawa to court to have that funding reinstated.

Michel Doucet, the lawyer for the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada, said the court challenges program allowed francophones outside of Quebec to strengthen their communities.

"We wouldn't be talking about schools in Alberta, schools in Saskatchewan, schools in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, and Francophone schools in Nova Scotia if the program had not been there," he said.

Doucet said provincial and federal government are supposed to follow constitutional principles that protect and promote linguistic rights. But they often don't, he said, which is why court challenges are necessary.

"That's what's the most upsetting," he said. "They don't usually act on those rights until courts tell them to do so."

Many of court victories won with the help of the program have led to new programs such as French boards across the country, and to better bilingual services, he said.

A successful court challenge saved the only French hospital in Ontario, Doucet said.

He also said the program helped Francophone communities negotiate with provinces, because they often settled cases rather than fight them in court.

"Those are the cases we don't even know about," he said. "I've been involved in some where governments … would just sit down and for the first time negotiate an agreement with the communities before going in front of the courts."

Doucet will try to convince the Federal Court that only by having the means of going to court do linguistic minorities have any chance of seeing their rights protected.

Doucet hopes to have the case heard this winter.