A Quebec judge overseeing the trial of a person accused of killing a cyclist with their car has raised concerns that an amendment to the province’s language charter could cause “undue delays” for trials held in English.
“For individuals who are seeking justice, especially in the anglophone community, these new laws have been problematic. They make things more expensive, they make things take more time. It is an issue,” said Geneviève Grey, lawyer.
Court of Quebec Justice Dennis Galiatsatos wrote in a 17-page ruling that he is worried about an amendment coming into force on June 1st that requires a French translation of any written judgment in English “immediately and without delay.”
He said the upcoming trial taking place in English will likely have to wait several extra weeks or months for the final decision even though it will be ready before that because of the translation needing to be done by court services.
I’ve had the experience in a criminal court of a judge saying, look, it’s going to be faster if I render this in French. Do you want me to render it in French or English? And me saying, look, I’d rather have it faster for my client who needs to have justice happen quicker,” said Grey.
“So, you know, I, and it’s not just in criminal courts, it’s everywhere, you know, we have to worry every time we get official documents and documents in English that we have to produce as evidence in specific files. Oh, do we need to get this translated? There’s all kinds of issues that have happened in the last little while that I can personally attest to with regards to the justice system being more onerous for individuals seeking justice.”
The Supreme Court’s landmark Jordan ruling in 2016 set strict limits on the length of trials before they violate a person’s Charter right to a speedy trial.
The judge said the new language laws could derail English trials in the province – if accused people file Jordan motions every time translation causes a delay.
“In serious criminal cases, it’s not in the interest of society to let these cases fall through because of time delays. Like, these are serious criminal cases. Now, there could be cases, and especially as a lawyer of the defense, I, you know, it might be good for us in the sense that, you know, we will be able to invoke the Jordan rule more, but that is not necessarily healthy for our system.”
Last week, Justice Galiatsatos reached out to the Attorneys General of Canada and Quebec to raise the constitutional question and asked them to provide written submissions to the court by May 14.
“I really commend the judge for taking that stand and making that known, because I agree, I agree wholeheartedly with him. I think it’s a problem for criminal justice. I think it’s a problem for all of our court system.”