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Hundreds or even thousands of people could have been wrongfully convicted or subjected to miscarriages of justice because of inadequate interpretation in Alberta courts, lawyers are warning after internal documents revealed authorities knew about longstanding problems with the system.

The issue, as reported by the Edmonton Journal's Jonny Wakefield, has surfaced in the case of Ramjit Sandhu, who was convicted of sexual assault earlier this year following a second trial.

Sandhu's original guilty verdict was thrown out after the Alberta Court of Appeal found the Punjabi interpretation provided during his first trial was “seriously inadequate.”

His lawyer, Kristofer Advent, subsequently obtained internal documents showing concerns about Alberta's court interpretation system had been raised for years.

A 2021 report from a now-defunct Court Interpreters Review Committee acknowledged “the hiring of unqualified interpreters is an issue” and was not limited to isolated incidents.

The report warned the problems could lead to unnecessary adjournments, appeals and new trials.

Advent said the implications could be considerably more serious.

“Basically what they acknowledge in there is ‘inaccurate resolution of cases,’ which is nice language for wrongful convictions and miscarriages of justice,” he said.

A separate 2024 review commissioned by Alberta's Ministry of Justice found the province had no formal process for verifying interpreter credentials, no standardized training requirements, no centralized database of qualified interpreters and no formal complaints system.

The government receives approximately 5,000 requests for court interpretation services every year.

The 2024 review also reported that consultations found many interpreters were either not proficient in the languages they claimed to speak or lacked the skills necessary to provide court interpretation.

Judges interviewed for the review reported cases had resulted in mistrials or successful appeals because of poor interpretation.

Defence lawyers provided examples of interpreters summarizing testimony rather than translating it word-for-word, inserting their own interpretations and even telling witnesses how they should answer questions.

Advent said it is impossible to know how many cases may have been affected.

“Who knows how many people have been wrongfully convicted, or where there’ve been miscarriages of justice?” he said. “Just knowing how many interpreters are being used, it’s got to be potentially hundreds or thousands.”

Sandhu is now pursuing a Charter application alleging the Crown and courts violated his rights by allowing his case to proceed despite systemic problems with interpretation.

Alberta Criminal Trial Lawyers Association president Shawn King warned the revelations could also expose the justice system to lawsuits or even potential class actions if past trial recordings are reviewed and faulty interpretation is discovered.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Mickey Amery declined to comment on the reports, citing the ongoing Sandhu case, but said the government is committed to ensuring interpreters have the appropriate language skills, experience and qualifications.

Sandhu's case returns to court September 4 to set dates for future hearings.