In Quebec, both languages are the record
Nobody interprets. Counsel puts the question in English, the witness answers in French, and the transcript has to carry both. That is the ordinary case here, not the difficult one.
The rule
Section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867 has governed the language of Quebec’s courts for more than a century and a half, and it is drafted as a personal choice rather than a rule about the proceeding.
“either of those Languages may be used by any Person or in any Pleading or Process in or issuing from any Court of Canada established under this Act, and in or from all or any of the Courts of Quebec.”
Constitution Act, 1867 (U.K.), 30 & 31 Vict., c. 3, s. 133 · laws-lois.justice.gc.ca
Each participant chooses independently and can change mid-hearing. No one has to justify the choice, nobody is appointed to bridge it, and no translation is produced. The consequence for the transcript is direct: there is no single language of the record to fall back on. Both are the record.
What that looks like
This is what an hour of a bilingual examination actually looks like when you plot who is speaking which language. It is not two blocks. It is a braid, and it can switch inside a single answer.
Solid is French, outline is English. No interpreter appears anywhere in this hour, and under section 133, none is required.
A transcriptionist working from a glossary cannot do this. The passages that matter are usually the ones where the register drops, where a witness stops giving evidence and starts talking. Quebec French at that moment is not the French of a translation memory.
Official stenographers
Quebec regulates the people who take the record, and it regulates them by language. Accreditation is granted by the Barreau’s Comité sur la sténographie, and the certificate says which languages it covers.
“The accreditation is valid for the methods and languages indicated thereon.”
Regulation respecting the training, skill and knowledge evaluation, accreditation and discipline of stenographers, CQLR c. B-1, r. 13, s. 1 · enabling Act: Stenographers’ Act, CQLR c. S-33, s. 3
The Barreau’s published roll of official stenographers carries a langue column for exactly this reason; a stenographer authorised in both appears twice. The province has, in other words, already decided that taking a record in French and taking one in English are two different competences.
Quebec reserves the official record to accredited stenographers, and the attestation is granted by language, which is why only a minority of the roll can carry a bilingual proceeding alone. We produce the other half: attested transcripts from the recording, in both languages, including the part an official transcript of a bilingual hearing leaves undone. The official stenographer’s certificate is a separate document; we work from the recording, which means the firm can engage us directly and so can the accredited stenographer on the file.
What we transcribe here
Raw list, no qualifiers.
Examinations on discovery · out-of-court examinations · examinations on affidavit · examinations after defence · depositions taken in Quebec for use in U.S. proceedings · commercial and labour arbitration · mediation sessions where a record is kept · Tribunal administratif du travail · Tribunal administratif du Québec · Régie du logement hearings · professional discipline committees · coroner’s inquests · municipal and Superior Court proceedings · Small Claims · CNESST hearings · class-action certification hearings · recorded evidence filed in any of the above
Where
We work from recordings, so the room can be anywhere. Most of our Quebec files come from Montreal and the Palais de justice de Montréal, and from Quebec City, Laval, Gatineau, Longueuil, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay and Lévis. Gatineau files usually arrive alongside Ottawa ones, which is where we are based.
The practice sits in Kanata, Ontario, and the work travels by file rather than by office. Recordings are submitted securely, the work is done by two named practitioners, and the transcript comes back signed.
Send the recording, the languages and the deadline. Confirmation the same working day, a firm figure once the audio has been heard, and the form of attestation your forum expects.
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