Judge sends deaf man back to school

SARA MINOGUE

A deaf man who cannot read, write or use American Sign Language now has 14 months to brush up his communication skills before he is tried for a sexual assault he was charged with a year and a half ago.

Bobby Suwarak of Baker Lake will be the focus of a unique training program designed to produce an American Sign Language interpreter who can communicate with David Kautaq, Suwarak’s childhood friend who has, until now, interpreted in court for Suwarak using hand gestures he learned from Suwarak’s family.

In delivering his judgment last Wednesday, Justice Earl Johnson sided with the Crown after hearing arguments from both sides on May 24 and 25.

Debate centred on a charter application launched in January by lawyer Tim Kavanagh, who argued that charges should be dropped against the accused because no form of interpretation could be provided within a reasonable period of time.

Kavanagh was a defence lawyer in Rankin Inlet at the time of the arrest and was appointed to represent Suwarak.

He refused, saying he could not communicate with the accused, but did stay on as amicus curiae, a “friend of the courts” who could argue for the rights of the accused without making a case against the charges.

In court in May, Kavanagh argued that the courts, which have convicted Suwarak twice since 1997, had ample time to provide interpretation and failed.

He provided expert testimony from a psychologist who specializes in deafness, Dr. Jamie MacDougall from the McGill University.

MacDougall testified that an American Sign Language interpreter could be trained to communicate using Inuit Sign Language, a still-undocumented traditional sign language that MacDougall was the first to identify, but that this could take one to three years.

Kavanagh also argued that Kautaq should not be used to interpret for his friend because their relationship creates a conflict of interest, and because Kautaq has had no formal training. In an affidavit, Kautaq declared that he was not comfortable interpreting for Suwarak and that he did not know how to convey complex legal concepts.

Crown prosecutor Jonathan Solski claimed all of these points were moot if an interpreter training program were in place.

For his case, he relied on an affidavit filed by the director of court services, Healther Daley, which outlined the credentials of three potential trainers. The affidavit did not contain details of the curriculum or how long the program would take.

In his judgment, the Justice Johnson made reference to MacDougall’s testimony that Suwarak was “a good learner” and that it would be “premature” to dismiss the case without attempting to help Suwarak participate in his own trial.

Johnson gave the courts until September 2006 to work with Suwarak, Kautaq, and an unnamed ASL interpreter from Iqaluit.

He dismissed Kavanagh’s argument that the court had been neglectful of Suwarak. He said two previous trials resulted in convictions agreed to by the Suwarak’s defence lawyers at the time.