Brent Reaney
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (July 06/05) - A Nunavut judge has ruled a deaf Baker Lake man will not stand trial for sexual assault until provided with a proper interpreter.

Only able to understand a limited amount of English, Bobby Suwarak communicates with family and friends through a previously unrecognized communication system known as Inuit Sign Language.

Suwarak's friend David Kautaq had assisted him in dealing with a pair of past sexual assault charges. But after Suwarak was charged with a third separate sexual assault on March 1, 2004, Kautaq testified to not feeling comfortable in effectively interpreting during the Oct. 4 trial.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees anyone who is deaf the right to an interpreter while on trial. In his June 29 decision, Justice Earl Johnson ruled in order to avoid a charter breach, Suwarak must be provided with an interpreter.

"The administration will have until Sept. 1, 2006 to complete an appropriate training program for the accused," Johnson wrote.

An Iqaluit resident trained in the traditional American sign language system has been recommended to learn the Inuit system.

Three years of training

But Dr. James MacDougall, who resides in Iqaluit, has completed three reports on Suwarak's situation and is quoted in the judgment as saying the training can take up to three years to complete, meaning the program may not finish until 2008.

The judgment also makes mention of previous judge's requests to develop a program to train either Suwarak or an interpreter as going unfulfilled.

All three of Suwarak's sexual assault charges relate to the same woman in Baker Lake.

Johnson also ruled the 15-month delay in hearing the case as not yet unreasonable.