Pubdate: Sat, 19 Sep 2015
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Ian Mulgrew
Page: A14

NO INTERPRETER MEANS NO TRIAL FOR ACCUSED

Courts: Government's inability to find competent Cambodian 
interpreter leads to stayed charges

A Vancouver Island man accused of drug trafficking has walked free 
because the government failed to provide him with an interpreter over 
two years of proceedings.

In a stinging rebuke of Attorney General Suzanne Anton, B.C. Supreme 
Court Judge Douglas Thompson stayed charges against Rong Kong Thim 
because a competent Cambodian interpreter could not be provided.

He said the manner in which this case proceeded mocks the phrase 
"orderly and expeditious."

"Failures stack on failures, infringements follow infringements, 
adjournments and recesses multiply," Thompson said.

"There comes a stage at which continuing the process comes at too 
high a cost to the reputation of the administration of justice. When 
is enough, enough? I conclude that the line has been crossed."

The attorney general, he added, through the Court Services Branch, 
failed to provide a necessary resource that "has resulted in an 
embarrassing collapse of the ability of the courts to adjudicate."

Charged on Sept. 13, 2013 with trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, 
as well as production of marijuana, Thim was denied bail.

Later, it became evident he wasn't even aware a bail hearing had been 
conducted.

Efforts to organize an interpreter for his January 2014 preliminary 
inquiry were unsuccessful.

Court time and facilities were set aside; a judge was ready to hear 
the case; counsel and witnesses were present.

But without an interpreter the judge had no choice but to adjourn the 
inquiry. Thim remained in custody. A new date was organized. On March 
12, 2014, the preliminary inquiry was again ready to go - except the 
interpreter, who ought to have been present instead appeared by telephone.

Faced with the dismal prospect of a translator trying to do his job 
remotely, the judge again adjourned the preliminary inquiry.

This time, though, after six months, Thim was granted bail.

Still, other problems with interpretation ensued.

The B.C. Supreme Court was forced to declare a mistrial because the 
next interpreter turned out to be incompetent; two others couldn't 
make the cut either.

The judge was prepared to proceed with the second trial, but there 
was no available interpreter.

Weeks of time have been "wasted in the headwinds created by the 
failure to provide proper interpreter services," the frustrated jurist said.

He dismissed the Crown's request for another delay and lambasted the 
government in a lengthy ruling from the bench.

"A further adjournment, the result of the only alternative remedy 
that has been proposed, would be a flaccid, unresponsive, and 
ineffective reaction to a serious ongoing systemic infringement of 
the accused's right," Thompson fulminated.

"In these circumstances, a stay better protects the integrity of the 
judicial system than attempting to have a trial despite the infringement."

He was upset that the persistent shortcoming to meet this key 
constitutional obligation hobbled the court.

The right of an accused to the assistance of an interpreter is a 
deeply and firmly embedded fundamental right, he insisted:

"It is required for a fair trial. It protects the dignity of the 
accused and the legitimacy of the criminal justice system. It plays 
an important role in preserving and enhancing Canada's claim to be a 
multicultural society."

Thompson worried that the case would cause people to infer that "the 
courts have not taken seriously the constitutional requirement to 
provide the accused with the assistance of an interpreter."

"It is surely important for this court at this time to dissociate 
itself in an effective way from this pernicious perception," he said.

In response to his complaints, the judge said court services had sent 
an apathetic email saying: "In this province, there are no (Court 
Services Branch) accredited Cambodian interpreters, unfortunately, 
although they may be accredited by other agencies or courts in other 
jurisdictions. In fact, there is no accreditation process available 
for Cambodian language at present."

Victoria lawyer Jason Watt, who represented Thim, said his 
middle-aged client came to Canada in the 1970s to escape the 
genocidal Khmer Rouge regime and made his living foraging in central 
Vancouver Island.

"He's very happy with the judgment," Watt said.

"This was a very unfortunate set of circumstances created in part by 
the problems with interpretation that happened right from the 
beginning. I don't think the court had any other option."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom