Thank you very much. We represent the Language Industry Association, the only national organization working at the industry level in the language field. We would like to start by giving you an overview of who we are and who our members are. Then we can answer some of your questions and offer some proposals.
The industry comprises three sectors. Canada is the only country in the world that has brought these three sectors together to form an industry. There is translation, language training—the language schools—and, lastly, language technology businesses.
These three sectors are essential for Canada. Without translation, without language training and, in our modern world, without language technologies, Canada would not exist. We think this is a very important industry.
We have been in existence for five years. We came together for the first time six years ago through the efforts of Industry Canada. The government subsequently recognized our importance and devoted a chapter to us, Chapter 6, in the Action Plan for Official Languages. Since then, and with some funding—less than $3 million in five years—we have really worked hard and have made enormous advances. Canada is currently the only country that has brought together these three sectors which work together.
Today, some of the questions that were forwarded to us concerned the action plan: how are things going in that regard, and so on? I would especially like to emphasize the fact that we make a real, direct contribution to the action plan's objective, in the education sector, for example. Our work method is always comprehensive.
Our offices are located in the language technology research centre, in a building of the UQO, the Université du Québec en Outaouais. We are well located. We work very closely with the education and community development sectors. We are in direct and constant contact with groups from all countries. We do a great deal of work with the Government of Canada; that is an aspect that is really essential.
The Government of Canada is the biggest client for language products and services in the country. In fact, it is one of the biggest clients in the world in terms of language services. We have described some of our contributions in two documents. There is a presentation document entitled “The Canadian Language Industry: Creating a Linguistic Legacy” and a support document entitled “Canadian Language Industry: Cornerstone of Canadian Identity — Springboard for the Canadian Economy”. Those documents are of course available in both official languages. You may use them as reference works.
Now let's talk about our successes. Previously, there was no place where industry players could meet. Now there is: finally there is a place where we can meet. Why is this important? Because, otherwise, there would really be no way for the industry to work with government. The government of course awards contracts to businesses, but a business cannot represent an industry. We are here to do that.
Now, for the first time in history, an industry group is sitting down with the government to take part in changes to supply procedures.