Something else that came to me in the middle of the night!
Also under the Un Universal Declaration (find it here http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)
Article 20.
* (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
* (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
i.e. you can opt out
Also, under the UK human rights act 1998
under the HUMAN RIGHTS ACT 1998,
ARTICLE 6 section 3 “Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:”
(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;
(e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court
(my emphasis)
You might want to check what the Canadian equivalent is
This is very powerful - not only can you demand an interpreter (unless legalese is your first language!), but you are entitled to the time and FACILITIES to prepare your defence - this could buy you some time(just tell them you have not had adequate time to prepare the defence) and/or you need more facilities (like research help) to prepare it - they will not take the risk of refusing as this could lead to a mistrial and open them up for a turnover on appeal.
I would be delighted if they wanted to pay me to come to Canada and help - haven't been in a while

Good luck
F-B