Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, everyone.
I would like to acknowledge the presence of my colleagues Annie Trépanier and Matthew Ball, the two vice-presidents of the Translation Bureau.
I would also like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional territory of the Algonquin people.
Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, thank you for this invitation to contribute to your review of the members of the House of Commons workplace harassment and violence prevention policy.
We are pleased to be able to discuss with you today the long-standing relationship between members of Parliament and our employees, as we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Translation Bureau. For 90 years now, we have been providing the quality linguistic services that are essential to the smooth running of Parliament.
While our translators and terminologists rarely have the opportunity to meet the parliamentarians for whom they work, quite the opposite is true for the interpreters, who spend most of their days, and often their evenings, with elected officials.
Since the inauguration of simultaneous interpretation in the House of Commons 65 years ago, bureau interpreters are seen and especially heard at most parliamentary meetings.
On that note, I would really like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Mathieu, Kristen and Caroline, who are interpreting our session today.
Mr. Chair, interpreters have no direct reporting relationship with MPs. They are not part of the political or parliamentary staff, but rather of the core public administration. Although MPs are their primary target audience, they don't have to interact with them directly, except on the few occasions when they are called upon to stand beside them and offer what we call “elbow interpretation”. Interpreters are usually isolated in their booth, and the clerks of the House of Commons administration act as their intermediaries with the MPs.
That being said, MPs have a direct impact on the working conditions of interpreters through their discipline during interpreted meetings. Certain basic behaviours, such as respecting the right to speak, go a long way towards facilitating the work of interpreters in addition to preventing the acoustic incidents that can occur when more than one microphone is open at the same time.