French/English

[Free-spirit]

I have been unable to find an answer concerning language. I am Anglophone and my husband is fluent in both French and English. When I recieved his support documentation for his financial statement there was a letter discussing his pension in French. As I do not understand I asked his lawyer to present me with an English version of said letter. She has refused.

Thus my question is: Does his lawyer have to supply me with documents in a language I understand? Are there any laws that govern this?

It just seems unfair that the onus is now placed upon me to have this letter translated. As I am representing myself I feel this is a tactic on his lawyer's behalf to rattle me.

[billm]

It shows your ex is an ass and so is his lawyer. But the lawyer represents him, so your ex is responsible for this unscrupulous behaviour.

[kamkatie]

I don't have a legal remedy for you but you could try plugging the document into one of the free english/french online translators and see if that helps.

[AtALoss]

All government services ie Courts are supposed to be able to offer both languages in this province. I think this is terrible on your ex's lawer's part. You should be able to find someone in the court system in Ottawa who should be able to translate for you. It is terrible really that you should have to go and do such butr well is better that you do seek out the translation because if something were to come up in the future regarding this document you would have a hard time proving you were misinformed. Yes you are but given that this is a bilingual province the translation should have been provided readily. You are entitlted to both if you request it. English is your first(only) language. If it were me I would consider reporting this lawyer to the Upper law society.

[standing on the sidelines]

All government services ie Courts are supposed to be able to offer both languages in this province. I think this is terrible on your ex's lawer's part. You should be able to find someone in the court system in Ottawa who should be able to translate for you. It is terrible really that you should have to go and do such butr well is better that you do seek out the translation because if something were to come up in the future regarding this document you would have a hard time proving you were misinformed. Yes you are but given that this is a bilingual province the translation should have been provided readily. You are entitlted to both if you request it. English is your first(only) language. If it were me I would consider reporting this lawyer to the Upper law society.

I would also get in contact with the human rights commission as this is a clear case of discrimination against you as an english only speaking person. Once the lawyer has them and the law society on his ass he will (I hope) clean up his act.