Official Languages Committee on May 30th, 2016

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

If I take, for example, the following phrase: "The dog is under the rain", or in French "Le chien est sous la pluie", if this is considered to be a good translation, it will then be added to the corpus and validated, but will it be there permanently? Are any other checks done? If a wrong translation is entered into the corpus, won't it constantly be repeated?

[Nancy Gauthier]

Statistically speaking, yes, you are correct, except that the bureau is committed to continually improving the content. So, if an error keeps reappearing, we will notify the National Research Council so that it can be corrected.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Have I already used up all my time, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

This round will be shorter. You will be able to continue later if we have enough time.

We will go immediately to Mr. Lefebvre.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

This round of questions will be four minutes.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If I only have four minutes, I'll be brief.

Some of the individuals from the translation bureau who appeared before the committee expressed concerns about succession planning. I would like to know how many new hires are expected at the translation bureau over the next five years.

[Adam Gibson, Vice-President, Linguistic Services, Translation Bureau, Department of Public Works and Government Services]

I'll take the question.

We don't have exact figures for our recruitment plans. We are focused on assessing our volume of work, on meeting our clients' needs, and, at the same time, on finding the ideal balance between our internal and external resources. At the moment, we are getting closer to that ideal balance, the sweet spot, between the use of our internal and external resources. We are committed to examining factors that could have an influence on the type of work done internally, including factors such as security, that require that the work be done in-house. We are on the verge of hiring staff in a number of specific areas in which we identified a need.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

If I understand correctly, you are identifying or studying various ways of working.

[Adam Gibson]

Yes.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Has demand for the translation bureau's services increased or fallen over the last few years?

[Donna Achimov]

We've noticed a change in the manner clients are communicating. That's the best way to explain it. We're seeing a stronger trend within a number of departments towards communicating via social media.

Over the last few years, press releases, reference documents, and background information were printed out on paper. It now appears more efficient to use social media.

Demand is changing thanks to new technologies and new trends in communications with Canadians.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Thank you.

The reason I am asking the question is that witnesses have reported that many departments were doing their own translations. They hire people to do the work. They, too, are entitled to outsource work.

We were even told that there are ghost translation services. The people working in these ghost services are perhaps not qualified to do translation or are not professional translators like the ones you have at the translation bureau.

I would like to know your opinion about these ghost translation services.

[Donna Achimov]

We often hear talk of this idea of ghost services. Ms. Gauthier's team has been marketing our services very aggressively. It is more effective to rely on professionals.

However, it's also a good thing that departments take advantage of bilingual staff when they need memos and other communications written at the last minute. After all, we have some public servants who are perfectly bilingual. We work in both official languages.

We promote our services with passion. We believe in the importance of having professionals provide translation services.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Choquette, you may go ahead.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Hello again, Ms. Achimov.

I would like to begin by asking you why the translation tool has become a comprehension tool.

[Donna Achimov]

Thank you for the question.

At first, we decided to use a known term, namely, "machine translation". However, following all the feedback this committee has heard and reports in the media, we thought it would be a good idea to clarify how best to use this tool. To us, it is truly a comprehension tool. It was designed to help the person using it understand the text in their language and in their second official language.

In English, we say that we need to get the gist, that is to say, to have a good summary of the text or a part of the text. We think the name change is a good improvement. I must also thank the committee for its recommendation to that effect.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

In addition, Ms. Achimov, I had requested that you hold off on implementing the Portage comprehension tool. Its implementation was postponed for a while. However, you have decided to make it available when the committee is in the middle of putting the finishing touches on its report, which will be tabled in the House in a week or two.

Why did you not wait another week or two?

[Donna Achimov]

We decided to launch the tool after having improved it. It was always our intention to launch the tool. It's in

our report on plans and priorities for 2016-17.

The tool was made more effective. It was also suggested that we better describe it. We've added pages and explanatory notes, and suggested the best ways of using it, in other words, the dos and don'ts of machine translation, or what to do and what not to do with the tool.

We also had many consultations with official languages champions on the best ways to use the tool.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

The translation bureau obviously provides translation services, but I would like to better understand its role. Does the bureau play a role in compliance with the Official Languages Act?

[Donna Achimov]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, absolutely. Our mandate is specifically to help the public service and the Government of Canada communicate in both official languages. We provide interpretation, terminology, and translation services in both official languages. We are also able to provide, with the help of the private sector, services in 110 other languages.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

In that case, Ms. Achimov—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Choquette, but we need to move on to the next member.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Fine, Mr. Chair.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Ms. Lapointe, go ahead.