Santa Claus has decided to intervene in favour of litigants who wish to use the French language before the Courts of Alberta. As he was quite busy, he has appreciated receiving some assistance to assure that the message would reach the then Premier of Alberta.

 

It was possible to send to Premier Jim Prentice, via email and/or by mail to his office at the Legislative Assembly (Office of the Premier, Room 307, Legislature Building, 10800-97th Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2B6) the drawing which is at the link Message from Santa Claus.

On June 22, 1988, the Attorney General of Alberta made a ministerial statement in the Legislative Assembly to introduce the Languages Act Bill;...the statement included these remarks: « With regard to civil courts every participant in court proceedings will be entitled to speak either English or French... The court proceedings will be recorded in the language spoken.. ».

If litigants are entitled to use either English or French in oral representations before the courts yet are not entitled to be understood except through an interpreter, their language rights are hollow indeed.  Such a narrow interpretation of the right to use either English or French is illogical, akin to the sound of one hand clapping, and has been emphatically overruled by Beaulac. The Crown Respondent assertion that the rights in the Languages Act are met by the provision of an interpreter amounts to a sloughing of the language rights of the litigant to the Charter legal right to due process, natural justice and a fair trial...The languages of the courts in Alberta are English and French.