Languages

Legal problems are hard enough without a language barrier on top. I work in French, English and Spanish — directly. If we speak one of these three languages, there is no interpreter between us: you explain your situation in your own words, and the advice comes back in the same language.

What "directly" changes

Immigration files are built out of details — dates, names, the exact sequence of events — and details are what interpretation can blur. Working in your language means your Basis of Claim form says what you meant, your questions get answered in the words you asked them in, and preparation for a hearing happens at full speed. It also means you can call the office and be understood from the first sentence.

Other languages

If your language is not French, English or Spanish, we work with a qualified interpreter for our meetings — arranged in advance, and bound by confidentiality like everyone who touches your file. Documents in other languages are translated by certified translators where a procedure requires it.

At the tribunal

Before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB), you have the right to testify in the language of your choice: the tribunal provides an interpreter at the hearing at no cost to you. Part of preparing a hearing is preparing to work with that interpreter — short sentences, pauses, and the confidence to say "I did not understand the question." That, too, we practise together.

Your documents

Official procedures in Canada run in English or French. Whichever we use for your file, you will always know what your own documents say — I go through them with you in the language we share before anything is signed or filed.