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The Challenges of Legal Drafting in the Canadian Context

Legal drafters in Canada operate in a context of institutional bilingualism and bijuralism. This creates special challenges no matter what type of document they are producing.

There are several methods for drafting in this kind of context. They include co-drafting, which seems to be best at ensuring the intelligibility and simplicity of texts while respecting the spirit of the languages involved. Despite this, the method more commonly used is translation, in which legal translators must apply plain language principles, but without the latitude to change the original text.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of these methods? In this unique linguistic and legal context, how do we take into account the needs of readers of legal texts?

This was an informative workshop on a topic that is often overlooked.


This workshop was simultaneously translated.

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