French-language trial to be held in Calgary — unusual for Alberta

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A person accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting 5 girls in Calgary has opted for a French-language trial, which is comparatively unusual within the Alberta Court docket of Justice however legally required if requested.

Richard Robert Mantha, 59, faces quite a few prices that embody kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault inflicting bodily hurt and administering a noxious substance.

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Mantha, who has ties to Quebec, was denied bail final summer season and has been in custody since he was arrested in April 2023.

His French-language trial, set for 4 weeks, is to start Monday earlier than a decide in provincial court docket, which was renamed the Alberta Court docket of Justice final yr.

“I wouldn’t say they’re significantly frequent,” Court docket of Justice spokesman Olav Rokne stated in an interview. “We’ve got a couple of couple dozen requests for French trials every year.”

The precise to a French trial is assured by Part 530 of the Prison Code, which offers for an accused particular person to request a trial in certainly one of Canada’s official languages.

“Given the jeopardy anybody charged with a felony offence might face, it’s crucial that they perceive absolutely the costs they’re dealing with and the proof being known as to help the costs,” stated Rokne.

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“They have to even be assured that each one the proof, together with any defence which may be superior by the accused particular person, is absolutely understood by the presiding justice.

“We’ve got judges who’re absolutely bilingual who can be assigned to those issues. There are clerks who’re absolutely bilingual … and there would even be sheriffs who’re absolutely bilingual.”

Crown prosecutors and defence legal professionals would even be fluent in French, he added.

Few French trials requested in Alberta amid hundreds every year

Statistics from the Alberta Court docket of Justice from 2010 to 2022 present there have been as much as 25 French trials requested yearly, although fewer than that went forward. There have been 4 French trials held in 2022, 5 in 2021, 5 in 2020, 17 in 2019 and 10 in 2018 — amid hundreds of felony trials held in every of these years.

Justice Canada stated in a press release that neither it nor Statistics Canada accumulate information on the language of trials throughout the nation.

The federal division famous, nevertheless, that it and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada performed a research in 2017 taking a look at entry to justice in each official languages for felony jury trials, that are held in superior courts.

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The research, printed in 2018, stated there was no famous enhance in demand for French-language or bilingual juries.

“In Yukon there has by no means been a request,” stated the report. “In Manitoba, there have been no requests within the final 20 years.”

Ontario couldn’t present numbers due to unreliable information in its case-tracking system. New Brunswick had secure demand since 2012.

“British Columbia famous a dramatic lower in French-language jury trials with just one reported French-language jury trial since 2012,” the report stated.

The report stated Quebec reported a slight enhance in English-language or bilingual jury trials.

It stated there have additionally been unsuccessful makes an attempt. Prices in a single case within the Northwest Territories have been stayed after a bilingual jury couldn’t be discovered, Newfoundland and Labrador noticed a case proceed by decide alone as a result of it couldn’t discover sufficient French-speaking jurors, and New Brunswick noticed a mistrial as a result of it couldn’t discover sufficient bilingual jurors.

Justice Canada stated federal courts and federal departments additionally present providers for alleged victims throughout trials.

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“Companies offered by provincial courts or workplaces are usually not topic to the federal Official Languages Act, however provincial language legal guidelines would apply,” stated the assertion.

Want for interpreters in Mantha trial

For Mantha’s trial in Calgary, an interpreter has been appointed to translate the testimony of any witnesses who solely speaks English into French.

It’s not but clear whether or not an interpreter would even be offered for alleged victims or their households throughout the court docket proceedings, however the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service stated it’s conscious of a possible subject.

“The necessity for interpreters has been flagged for the courts,” it stated in a press release. “The conduct of the trial is the court docket’s duty together with addressing any language necessities.”

Rokne stated the Prison Code features a provision for translation to be offered to the accused, to counsel and to witnesses, which might embody victims.

“Whereas giving testimony, a witness might be supplied with an interpreter if the trial is in French and they don’t communicate French,” he stated in an emailed assertion. “The Crown might make an utility to have an interpreter keep and proceed offering translation providers for that witness or the sufferer, however the Code doesn’t require that.”

The Calgary police’s Sufferer Help Help Staff is to offer help to the ladies throughout the trial, however a spokesperson stated that doesn’t usually embody translation providers.

Police have stated the ladies alleged they have been approached by a person, then drugged and brought to a different location, the place they have been bodily and sexually assaulted.

This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Jan. 14, 2024.

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