On Sunday morning, June 30, a diverse international group of close to 60 speakers and guests braved the pouring rain to gather at McGill University and examine various facets of the complex relationship between language and access to justice.
Carola Weil, Dean of the School of Continuing Studies, was on hand to personally welcome the audience of jurists, academics, students and translation professionals, several of whom had spent the previous week in Ottawa at the ISO TC37 International Meeting focusing on terminology, translation and other language-based standards.
The first panel, moderated by James Archibald, Senior Faculty Lecturer, Translation Studies, featured speakers Rute Costa, Associate Professor and Head of the Linguistics Centre, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, and Sebastian Drude, former Director, Vigdís International Centre for Multilingualism and Intercultural Understanding, based in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Dr. Costa spoke about the importance of making legal terminology accessible to the masses, using examples from her own team’s work within the Portuguese parliamentary system. Dr. Drude, participating through videoconference, delved into the concept of linguistic diversity and how perceptions of the variations of a given language can lead to prejudice and social discrimination, both unequivocal barriers to access to justice.
The second panel, moderated by Louis Fortier, President of the Canadian Association of Legal Translators, then looked into two examples of how access to justice is affected by various language-related practices.
Donald Nicholls, Director of Justice and Correctional Services, Cree Nation Government, described the judicial, corrections and intervention programs and processes currently in use in the Cree Nation, all of which have been designed in a way that respects communities’ ideals and values. He highlighted the role of access to legal services and terminology in the Cree (Eeyou/Eenou) language in protecting individual rights.
Vera Roy, Legal Translator with the Société québécoise d’information juridique, then delivered a presentation on SOQUIJ’s approach and rationale with regard to translating Quebec court judgments from French into English, as well as how the results influence individual rights and enhance case law development across Canada.
Informal discussions between the panelists and participants then continued over a light lunch, where avenues for further research, action and collaboration were explored.
“By its very nature, legal translation, including legal terminology and lexicography, and court interpreting are an indispensable component in providing equal access to justice in multilingual societies. The importance of high-quality legal translation and court interpreting in fostering social inclusion and community cohesion cannot be overstated.”
María Sierra Córdoba Serrano, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Translation Studies, McGill University
Event Sponsors
Association de l’industrie de la langue | Language Industry Association (AILIA), TERMINOTIX Inc., BG Communications International Inc., Réseau juridique de Québec | Quebec Law Network (RJQ), Société québécoise d’information juridique (SOQUIJ), Sub Verbis, Conseil supérieur de la langue française (CSLF), Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ), Centre Paul-André Crépeau de droit privé et comparé | Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law.