Evidence of meeting #101 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was gaelic.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Would they have to go through the same certification requirements as your other members?
Co-Chair, Board of Examiners, Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council
It would be through either examination or on dossier. If they have a number of years' experience and then provide references, we could certify them.
NDP
Romeo Saganash NDP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Was that part of your discussions with Nunavut?
Co-Chair, Board of Examiners, Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council
We haven't even gotten to that point yet; it's just very, very initial. I've sent them an outline of our certification procedures, and I'm waiting for them to get back to us on that.
NDP
Co-Chair, Board of Examiners, Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council
I think so.
What I was trying to get across was the fact that you have these myriad agencies all accrediting and certifying language professionals. That should be harmonized in some way.
NDP
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Thank you.
Ms. Orton, you said there's a two-week notice period to use Gaelic in the House. I assume that applies to all languages other than English?
Head of Public Information and Resources, Scottish Parliament
Generally, yes. That would be preferable, yes.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
What is the issue for that length of delay? Is it the lack of available interpreters who are qualified? What causes such a long delay?
Head of Public Information and Resources, Scottish Parliament
It's mostly that, and certainly for Gaelic. There are only four or five Gaelic interpreters we're able to use, so trying to book them in advance is a good idea.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Are other languages and dialects in Scotland ever used in the chamber?
Head of Public Information and Resources, Scottish Parliament
The most important one at the moment is British Sign Language. We are in the process of putting together a British Sign Language plan, which is encouraging more use and more engagement with the BSL community. It's likely that we will be increasing the number of occasions when BSL is interpreted in the chamber. Currently, there are more BSL interpreters than Gaelic in the chamber.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Are you seeing a positive impact on Gaelic from this program—or, with the long delays, are people reticent about actually using it?
Head of Public Information and Resources, Scottish Parliament
I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is that possibly there are fewer MSPs who are fluent in Gaelic. There are only two.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I understand. We are facing the same situation with the indigenous languages here in terms of the number who speak it. But it's a chicken-and-egg problem: if you provide the languages, perhaps you can get more people who speak it in the chamber.
Anyway, thank you for that. I want to go to Mr. Williams for a few minutes. I may come back to you, if I have the time.
We've talked about relay languages a little bit. If you remember the advent of translation services on the Internet, when you translated from one language to another and then back, the message was often completely changed. What kinds of challenges do you face in relay translation reliability-wise?
Co-Chair, Board of Examiners, Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council
We'd be facing exactly the same challenges.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
If you translated from English to French, and then had a relay translation back to English, would it be significantly different?
Co-Chair, Board of Examiners, Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council
Again, it depends on the quality of the interpreter.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Fair enough.
Many interpreters have told me that if they'd had to use me for certification, they wouldn't be certified. I just want to put that on the record.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
One thing that's come up here a bit is the idea of providing written translated text to interpreters to read into the record for the languages that could not otherwise be translated in an efficient manner. We've been told that there is an ethical issue with this. Do you have codes of ethics or things like it that you could share with us?
