Indigenous translation ruling ‘absurd:’ MP

An indigenous MP says he’s being prevented from using his language in the House of Commons after the Speaker said in a ruling this week that the House doesn’t have the capacity to translate indigenous languages into English and French.

“Hearing this ruling from the Speaker was the most terrible thing I have heard in this chamber in the six years that I have been sitting in this place,” NDP indigenous affairs critic Romeo Saganash said in the House Tuesday.

In his ruling, Speaker Geoff Regan said the House of Commons has “limited technical and physical capacity for interpretation,” and anyone who wants to speak in a language other than English or French should repeat their comments in one of the two official languages so that everyone can understand.

But Saganash didn’t accept that the House has limited resources for translation. “I worked for 23 years at the United Nations in Geneva,” he told the National Post Wednesday. “They manage to translate I don’t know how many languages simultaneously. And this is Canada. It’s 2017 and we can’t do it here? That’s absurd.”

The issue stems from a point of privilege raised by Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette earlier this month. In May, Ouellette had made a statement about violence against indigenous women in Cree. “Even though I had provided documentation to the translation and interpretative services 48 hours prior to my speaking … they were unable to provide a timeappropriate translation,” he told the House June 8.

He claimed his parliamentary privileges had been violated, and he’d been “effectively silenced.” He asked for “minimal resources” to help with translation of his language.

But in his ruling Tuesday, the Speaker said that MPs can and have spoken different languages in the House — they just have to repeat their comments in English or French to be understood by everyone. He said he understands how some might find that “woefully inadequate.”

“Perhaps there is some merit to that view. Perhaps being able to speak in other languages without the benefit of simultaneous interpretation is not good enough for some.”

But he said any decision to expand interpretation services would have to be made by the government. He suggested Ouellette could raise the issue with the committee that reviews procedures of the House of Commons.

Ouellette did not comment on the ruling, and could not be reached on Wednesday.

But Saganash quickly took up the mantle, pointing out that the Speaker’s ruling came on the eve of National Aboriginal Day.

“This is frustrating, not to say insulting, because my language has been spoken for 7,000 years,” he told the House.

In question period Wednesday, Saganash asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a question in Cree, partly in protest of the ruling. Trudeau was forced to answer without understanding the question.