Judge limits law requiring English criminal judgments in Quebec be translated

Article content

A Quebec Court judge has ruled that a change to Quebec’s French Language Charter, scheduled to take effect on June 1, “cannot apply to criminal proceedings in Quebec.”

Judge Dennis Galiatsatos is scheduled to hear a criminal trial soon that will be held in English. It involves the case against Christine Pryde, 32, a West Island resident charged dangerous driving, impaired driving and criminal negligence causing the death of cyclist Irène Dehem on May 18, 2021. According to the decision, the Crown is expected to allege that Pryde knew she was too tired to drive and had taken anxiety medication before she got behind the wheel of her Hyundai Accent.

Article content

Article content

The judge anticipates having to deliver a detailed decision in English and pointed out in the past that, if he were to follow the upcoming change to the language charter, having a French translation prepared by court services to be delivered at the same time as the one he prepares in English will create a lengthy delay. This will open a door for the accused to argue she waited too long for her case to end.

“The court concludes that the words ‘immediately and without delay’ in Section 10 of the Charter of the French Language are incompatible with the operation of criminal procedure, which is a federal jurisdiction,” the judge wrote, adding the change is also “incompatible with the absolute language rights” provided by the Criminal Code of Canada.

Galiatsatos heard arguments on the matter from Quebec’s attorney general and the federal government. His decision suggests that, despite having two years to prepare, the Quebec government is still not able to handle the volume of translations that will be required to meet the demands of the change in the charter.

One suggestion from the provincial government is that translations could be handled by artificial intelligence.

Article content

Article content

“Deep in the schedules to the second affidavit, the attorney-general’s materials allude to ‘translation tools’ and artificial intelligence that could hopefully streamline the translation process and make it quick and efficient. Software and artificial intelligence to translate the carefully chosen, carefully crafted words, expressions, terms of art and legal standards that a judge meticulously ponders during the drafting process. The language of Shakespeare might be translated to the language of Molière by way of R2D2,” the judge wrote in his 34-page decision.

“Of course, that is the government’s prerogative. Whether that is a good or bad idea is not for the court to decide. Whether this will render legal translators obsolete cannot be the court’s concern. The government is free to opine: if artificial intelligence can write simulations of Drake and Taylor Swift songs, it must be able to accurately translate legal decisions dealing with citizens’ liberty interests, right?”

pcherry@postmedia.com

Article content

Article content