Canada’s criminal courts have a mechanism for accused people who are mentally unfit, a Charter right to interpretation for deaf defendants, and prosecution powers for serious sexual-assault allegations. The Alberta case of Kendal Longclaws has exposed the gap between all three: a man whom courts found cannot understand language, court, counsel, or the justice system, but who also does not fit the Criminal Code’s mental-disorder pathway.
The Alberta Court of Appeal affirmed a 2025 Court of King’s Bench decision that stayed sex charges against Longclaws, a deaf man from Ermineskin Cree Nation, after the court concluded that no interpreter or interpretive service in Canada could make the proceedings meaningful for him.
The case has drawn national attention because of the alleged offences and the legal end point. Canadian Press reported in January 2025 that Longclaws, then 31, faced three charges stemming from alleged assaults between 2012 and 2016 and in 2021. He was charged on two separate indictments with six counts of sexual interference and two counts of sexual assault against three separate complainants.
Sponsored · Altamira Gold Corp.
Justice Debra Yungwirth found in the lower-court decision that Longclaws was born deaf, is illiterate, does not communicate in a recognized sign language, and is “wholly unable” to communicate with court and counsel, according to Canadian Press. The judge said proceeding without interpretation would deny him a fair trial and prevent him from making full answer and defence.
Canada’s Charter gives a party or witness who is deaf, or who does not understand or speak the language of proceedings, the right to an interpreter, stated in section 14.
But the Longclaws case is more difficult than a conventional interpreter-access dispute. The lower-court evidence, as summarized by Canadian Press, found no standard language to interpret from or into. Debra Russell, a professor who studies deaf people’s experiences in the justice system, found no evidence that Longclaws understood or used standard sign language. She believed he had language deprivation syndrome after not being exposed to language in early life.
Crown prosecutors argued that Longclaws’ fitness to stand trial should be assessed before a stay was ordered and argued that language deprivation syndrome could be treated as a mental disorder, according to Canadian Press. Yungwirth rejected that route, finding no evidence that Longclaws had a mental illness or psychiatric disorder that would meet the Criminal Code definition.
Sponsored · Selkirk Copper Mines
The Criminal Code defines “unfit to stand trial” as being unable, because of mental disorder, to conduct a defence or instruct counsel, including inability to understand the nature or consequences of proceedings or communicate with counsel. The Code also says a person is not criminally responsible if a mental disorder made them incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or knowing it was wrong.
Yungwirth called a stay the most drastic criminal remedy because it permanently stops prosecution, but said there was “simply no other remedy available,” according to Canadian Press. She also acknowledged the effect on complainants, writing that a stay would deprive them of their day in court.
National Post commentary and related summaries framed the appeal result more sharply, saying courts concluded Longclaws cannot be prosecuted or psychiatrically detained for sex crimes involving three minors because he was never taught to communicate. Global News promoted a July 8, 2026 segment featuring National Post writer Jamie Sarkonak on “why an alleged child sex offender walked free in Alberta,” who also wrote an article on the same topic.
That description captures the public outrage, but it risks blurring the legal posture. The court did not rule that Longclaws is free to commit crimes. It affirmed, according to available reporting and the appeal listing, that the state could not proceed with this prosecution under current legal tools.
The case also shifts the question upstream. The lower-court record, as reported by Canadian Press, included testimony from Longclaws’ mother that there were no resources for him to learn sign language, and that the Ermineskin Band would only pay for children to learn Cree.
“There is no funding for deaf kids on the reserve,” she said, according to the report.
The legal gap now sits with lawmakers, not judges. If Parliament wants a route for cases involving profound language deprivation that is not classified as mental disorder, it would likely need to design one with constitutional safeguards, disability expertise, and a clear boundary between treatment, supervision, and punishment.
Until then, Longclaws stands as a rare but consequential warning: a criminal system can have charges, complainants, judges, lawyers, and Charter rights, yet still lack the basic condition it needs to function: shared language.
