2016 SKPC 085, 2016 SKPC 085

PROVINCIAL COURT OF SASKATCHEWAN CIVIL DIVISION Citation: 2016 SKPC 085 Date: June 1, 2016 File: 211/16 Location: Regina, Saskatchewan Donald James LeBlanc -and - Lexterra Land Ltd. FIAT P. DEMONG, J [ 1 ] This claim, and some of the documents pertinent to this claim, have been filed with the Court in the French language. It is apparent that the plaintiff wishes to proceed with this claim in the French language and this Fiat will outline the manner in which the action will proceed. [ 2 ]

Section 11 of The L anguage Act c. L-6.1 SS 1988-89 grants every person in Saskatchewan the right to use either English or French before this Court. The

section also grants to this Court the right, but not the obligation to make rules for the purposes of carrying into effect the provisions of the Act . [ 3 ] This Court’s central purpose and objective is to deal with claims in a timely, inexpensive and efficient fashion and does not have

any set procedural rules. Notwithstanding this, the Court attempts to follow procedures which are, from experience, commonly used bymany of the Judges that sit in Small Claims Court as circumstances dictate. Simply put, each Judge tries to ensure a continuity of process,but is free to adapt and amend that process in a manner which best accords to the court location, the availability and

schedule of anygiven Judge, and the needs of the party litigants, as determined by the Judge who is hearing any given matter. [4] Having read and considered the Act, the decision of the Court of Queen’s Bench in R v Rottiers, (SK QB), andthe majority decision of Mr.

Justice Beetz in MacDonald v City of Montreal, [1986] 1 SCR 460, (SCC), I am of the viewthat while a party litigant has the right to use French or English in any proceeding before the Court, a litigant who chooses to proceed inthe French language has no corresponding right to be addressed by either the Court, the officers of the Court, party litigants, or witnessesin the French language. I say that because those parties have the corresponding right to conduct their affairs in the language (eitherFrench or English) of their choice. (See MacDonald, above, at paragraphs 58-61).

I am also satisfied that this latter right extends to thosewritten documents, pleadings and processes filed with, and/or prepared by the Court, its officers, and other witnesses or party litigants. [5] To that end, this claim shall proceed in the following manner:

i) the plaintiff is allowed to file pleadings, documents and any Court applications or briefs with the Court in either the French or Englishlanguage; ii) because the trial Judge’s primary language is English, any materials filed with the Court in French will be transcribed, at the Court’scost, for the benefit of the Judge and all officers of the Court; iii) each of those transcriptions will be appended to each of the French materials which have been filed; iv) any party to the dispute may, upon request, obtain a copy of the transcribed materials;

v) the Court and its officers will conduct its affairs and prepare its correspondence, materials, orders and judgments in English; vi) the trial will be conducted in English, but the Court will, at its own cost, ensure that a French/English translator will be in attendanceto assist the Court and the party litigants. [6] The summons that is attached to this Fiat has identified the date upon which this action will be heard. The trial has been set forthree days to accommodate the additional time necessary to allow for translation. [7] The Court makes the following further orders:

i) Due to the attendant cost of having the out of province defendant attend to Court, and the additional costs associated with procuring atranslator, the Court waives the requirement of a case management conference; ii) The plaintiff shall serve the summons, together with a copy of his claim (both in French and English) and this Fiat on the defendant onor before the fifteenth day of June, 2016 and immediately thereafter file proof of service with the Court; iii) On or before July 15, 2016, the plaintiff shall file with the Court three copies of:

a) his list of witnesses, identifying the names, addresses, and phone numbers of each witness;

b) those documents in his possession, power or control which are broadly relevant to the action, numbered consecutively;

c) a numbered list of the documents referred to above, with a short description of each numbered document;

d) The materials identified above shall be presented to the Court in three distinct packages. One package will be marked, in either French or English as “ For the Court ”, one copy shall be marked “ For the Defendant ”, and the third copy shall be marked “ For Translation ”. iv) In order to comply with the filing requirements set forth above, all of the documents previously filed with the Court will be returned to the plaintiff. The documents as filed are not consecutively numbered as they employ the use of numbers in addition to numbers and letters together, and with letters only;

v) If any of the documents which are filed by the plaintiff are French copies of identical English documents, those documents shall be appended together as constituting a single document to avoid any further attendant cost of translation which may be unnecessary; vi) Upon receipt of these materials the court clerk will endeavour to have these documents transcribed as soon as practicable.

The English translation of each document will be appended to its French equivalent; vii) Upon completion of transcription, the plaintiff shall be so advised and the Court clerk will direct the plaintiff to attend to Court to pick up the materials on or before a specified date. viii) The clerk will provide the plaintiff with two packages of the materials, one for himself and one for the defendant. ix) The plaintiff shall serve this package of materials on the defendant within thirty days of receipt of the materials from the court clerk, and shall immediately thereafter provide the Court with proof of service thereof;

x) The defendant shall, within thirty days of the date that it was served with the plaintiff’s materials file with the Court its statement of defence in triplicate, together with its witness list, documents list and copies of documents in like manner as the plaintiff has done, and as described in subparagraph (iii) above; xi) Upon receipt of these materials, the Court clerk shall advise the plaintiff that he may attend upon the Court clerk to obtain a copy of the defence and the materials filed by the defendant; xii) Barring exceptional circumstances, the trial will not be adjourned, and the matter will proceed on the date set forth in the Summons; xiii) Any party who seeks to bring any application prior to trial shall do so in letter format advising the Court of the precise nature of the relief they are seeking and the reasons therefore. xiv) Any party who fails to comply with this order may, at the discretion of the Court, have its claim or defence struck, with costs to be assessed and with judgment to issue accordingly.

Dated at Regina, Saskatchewan the 1st day of June, 2016. P. Demong, J