Justice
Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
January 21, 2008

Aboriginal Legal Interpreters Course Will Enhance Access to Court Services

As part of a commitment to enhance Aboriginal understanding of the justice system, the first class of the Aboriginal Legal Interpreters Course began today in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Students from Innu and Inuit communities who complete the course will be eligible for employment in the justice system as legal interpreters. The course, which will be facilitated by the College of the North Atlantic, will allow further understanding and engagement of Innu and Inuit people in the justice system.

"Our government recognizes the need for improved access to the justice system for Aboriginal peoples and it is our hope that the Aboriginal Legal Interpreters Course will foster increased understanding as more people are able to participate using their own language," said the Honourable Jerome Kennedy, Minister of Justice and Attorney General. "During recent meetings in Labrador I met with elders and leaders of the Aboriginal communities and it was clear that due to language barriers, many Innu and Inuit often do not understand court proceedings. The implementation of this course and the availability of the glossary are strong starting points toward eliminating this barrier."

"This is an important step forward for the judicial system in our province," said the Honourable Patty Pottle, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs. "Aboriginal people will now have a better understanding of court proceedings as explained in their own language. I commend the departments of Justice and Education for seeing this progressive initiative to fruition."

The interpreter�s course was developed as part of a series of new interpretive service improvements under the Northern Strategic Plan and has been a collaborative undertaking with the Department of Education, the Linguistics Department at Memorial University, the Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and interpreters from Labrador. Students in the course will be taught interpretation skills and key terms of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut that are used in legal matters so they may translate these terms for Aboriginals during proceedings. In conjunction with this course, handbooks containing a translated glossary of key criminal justice terms have been published. To date, more than 500 legal terms have been translated into both Innu-aimun dialect and Labrador Inuktitut.

"I am particularly pleased with the collaborative effort that has taken place to implement this course and publish the glossary of both Innu-aimun and Inuktitut," said Minister Kennedy. "It is important to point out that all students of this course are Aboriginal and will have the benefit of aboriginal interpreting instructors."

The new interpretive service improvements are further evidence of the Provincial Government�s commitment to engage residents throughout the province in the justice system. Budget 2007 allocated $424,000 for the aboriginal interpretation initiative which allowed the Department of Justice to develop and deliver the Aboriginal Legal Interpreters Course, publish the legal glossary and hire staff interpreters in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nain and Natuashish.

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Media contacts:

Ken Morrissey
Director of Communications
Department of Justice
709-729-6985, 685-6612
kenmorrissey@gov.nl.ca
John Tompkins
Director of Communications
Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs
709-729-7628, 728-7762
jtompkins@gov.nl.ca


2008 01 21                                                      9:55 a.m.


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