Once is not usual: the Supreme Court of Canada is dragged into court for its refusal to translate approximately 6,000 historic decisions written only in English before the adoption of the Official Languages Act in 1969.
It would even be a “first in the history of Quebec and Canada” according to Droits collectives Québec (DCQ), the organization which filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court on Friday morning in Montreal.
“DCQ demonstrates that there will now be a price for violating the rights of French-speakers in Quebec and Canada, no matter how powerful the offending person or institution is,” argue the president of DCQ, Daniel Turp, and the general director, Etienne-Alexis Boucher.
The commissioner agrees with them
Their approach is based on the positions taken by the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, who called on the Supreme Court to translate these old decisions on two occasions.
As recently as September, the commissioner published a report supporting DCQ in its complaint against the Supreme Court.
Mr. Théberge concluded that “all decisions that the Supreme Court publishes on its website should be in both official languages since this online offering constitutes a communication to the public made by a federal institution.”
The Supreme Court opposes it
Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner believes the exercise would be too costly and the real benefits would be limited.
The judge of the highest court in the country said in a press conference in June that it would take around a hundred translators working for a decade to translate the approximately 6,000 decisions. The estimated bill: 10 to 20 million dollars.
“We don’t have that money. If there’s someone who has it, great. It will please those who are lovers of legal cultural heritage,” he said. “The legal interest in these historic decisions is very minimal.”
Richard Wagner had mentioned the idea of using artificial intelligence (AI) to facilitate the task, but the idea displeased DCQ, which wanted a translation carried out by translators specializing in law.
“Experts call for caution, because AI cannot replace the legal translator, who knows the intricacies of the law,” DCQ explained in a press release dated September.
Through its approach, the organization wishes to trigger a wave of “mobilization” for respect for the rights of Francophones throughout the Canadian Francophonie.
The translation of these thousands of decisions is desired by Quebec. Last year, the National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion from the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, calling for the translation of these approximately 6,000 decisions.
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