SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
NWT Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau ruled on April 24 to uphold Hugues Latour's appeal and grant him a new trial.
Former Inuvik school teacher Hugues Latour was granted bail Jan. 24. - NNSL file photo |
Latour was convicted of forcible entry, assault, and failing to follow court conditions on May 1, 2012, in Inuvik and sentenced to 60 days in jail. He appealed both the decision and the sentence on the grounds that the court failed to inform him of his right to have his trial held in French, as of the beginning of the process in September 2011.
While Charbonneau acknowledged in her decision, written in French, that Latour's wishes with regards to language were unclear, she ultimately agreed the law governing the choice of official language at trial had been violated.
She did state, however, that "there was no indication of bad intentions on the part of the authorities," and therefore could not justify throwing out the case entirely.
"It's very unfortunate that Mr. Latour was not informed of his rights in a clear manner from the beginning," she wrote. "But the fact remains that, probably because his rights were not clearly explained, the positions he took with regards to the language of the trial were ambivalent and sometimes contradictory."
Charbonneau's decision made it clear that although Latour had vacillated between wanting to be tried in French and agreeing to proceed in English, he had felt - due to a scheduling issue - his choices were restricted to moving forward with the May 1 trial in English with the help of a lawyer, or to proceed in French on that day with no lawyer.
"Evidently, there was a third option: to proceed in French, with a lawyer, at a later date," Charbonneau wrote, continuing to say that if the option had been presented to him in September 2011, the scheduling issues would have been dealt with then.
Latour also faces charges of sexual assault, sexual interference and encouraging sexual touching with a person under the age of 16 and is set to be tried by judge and jury - in French - in Yellowknife Aug, 12.
