Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my thanks to the witnesses for coming today.
I want to preface my remarks today by saying that we're dealing with a specific issue, and some of the questions are hard questions. For my part, certainly, some of my closest friends are members of the RCMP. Having worked with the RCMP in some of the most isolated and remote communities in Canada, I have nothing but admiration and respect for the outstanding job they do.
It's not going to prevent me from asking some hard questions today. Indeed, you've heard some others.
Lost in translation--this is one of my primary concerns. I have an anecdotal example of my own. When I started out as a nurse in an isolated Cree community, I remember asking an elderly lady, through a translator--she was complaining of cold symptoms and I could tell her nose was running. When I asked how long her nose had been running, she started to laugh, as did the translator, saying, “My nose doesn't have legs. It can't run. And if it did, where would it run to?” So I had a very early appreciation on how things can get lost in translation.
On a little more serious note, with respect to Google Translate, we did a bit of work and we have an interesting newspaper here. The French business paper, La Tribune, launched an experiment in July 2009 to run a multilingual version of its website. The experiment was based on Google Translate and generated some comical headlines. This was one French title:
“Ryanair prêt à faire voyager des passagers debout.”
It's pretty straightforward French. It translated to “Ryanair alone to make travel of the passengers upright”.
The second title was:
“Les atouts du droit continental dans la gestion de la crise.”
That was translated as “Assets of the continental right in management of the crisis”.
So the quality is really mediocre. Indeed, I've experimented with translation a time a two. And I think we can all agree how problematic Google Translate can be.
I'm going to focus on B.C, Surrey, because I have an old news release by one Mr. Shields, which I think has been discussed by my colleague, Mr. Nadeau, and....
I visited the website of Surrey, British Columbia. I realized that news releases are not alone in being available only in English. This was also true of general information on gangs, family violence, road safety and other important issues. I feel that this situation is unacceptable, especially since the RCMP was made aware of the problem in July and August 2010.
We can't have this. I understand some of the practical problems and the need to introduce some immediate news bulletins that we may not be able to translate instantaneously, although I think that's what I'm hearing you'd like to head towards.
Mr. Cogan, based on Mr. Nadeau's questions earlier, I would have taken some comfort in the fact that you had dealt with this issue in Surrey, B.C. Unfortunately, I'm in possession of a news release this morning that continues to trouble me. It appears that there's a new policy as early as Wednesday afternoon, yesterday. Let me read from it.
He's writing about potential victims facing an imminent threat of death, serious harm. He says the Mounties will post a news release immediately, but he notes a slowdown, which he says “comes as a result of the federal Official Languages Act”, and he states once again that E Division doesn't have a full-time translator.
This is a news release from yesterday. I think you may be aware of it.
Do you have anything planned to fix these two problems, which are twofold? First, there's the translation issue in British Columbia. Mr. Shields' comments are still unacceptable, in my opinion.
What specific measures do you intend to adopt in order to comply with the Official Languages Act, in this situation? You have already talked about your objective in a broader sense. Today, I would like to know—and this is perhaps also the case for my colleagues—what specific steps you will take to rectify this situation.
I would also like to know if general information on gangs, family violence, road safety and other important issues will be made available in French as well.
I can't underscore enough the need to address this issue, frankly, of communications coming from Surrey, B.C., where, as you've identified, some poor judgment may have been exercised. It was enough back in the summer. It occurred again today.
I'll leave the last couple of minutes for you to address that.
Thank you.