María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
In a multilingual – but officially bilingual – country like Canada, translation (understood broadly) has often been conceptualized as a cultural-linguistic value. However, I have argued elsewhere for the need to move away from a model of multilingualism management that is primarily predicated on identity arguments and toward a broader framework based on the idea of access and human rights, a minimum threshold that, once defined, would apply to any language group. The state would develop a policy framework that guarantees accommodations for all language groups beyond official languages in well-defined “high-risk” situations in which fundamental human rights could be compromised (i.e., when accessing justice, healthcare, or education).
Building on the idea of “risk” and the fact that crisis settings can be placed at the high end of the spectrum of high-risk situations, I will focus on legal multilingualism management during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, and I will analyze the existing translation policies and practices within the Abitibi judicial district of Quebec.
The impact of the pandemic on access to justice in Canada has been disproportionate, affecting certain segments of the population more than others, especially marginalized individuals, including speakers of official and non-official minority languages (Action Committee, 2021, online). Adopting a top-down approach, I will begin by analyzing relevant language policy instruments to determine if they contemplate emergency situations, and then move to other documents related to the courts’ emergency preparedness planning to see whether language needs are contemplated. Through interviews with key stakeholders, I will then analyze the language management practices within the district in question.
Ultimately, I want to illustrate how lessons learned from managing legal multilingualism in crisis settings in Canada can inform the development of a policy framework and best practices for the provision of language access services in high-risk situations beyond crises.
Keywords: legal multilingualism management, Canada, crisis translation.