Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would be my pleasure.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, good morning.
I would like to tell the committee how grateful I am for the opportunity to be here today.
Last fall about 10 pan-Canadian language associations from coast to coast, as well as several public figures, placed their trust in the Association of Linguistic Services Managers and its working group, the committee for the promotion of Canadian language services, which I'm chairing with humility, pride, and conviction. We have taken on the mission of promoting the distinctive value of professional translation of key economic and political actors in the country.
I'd like to begin with a retrospective.
We came out in support of the Standing Committee on Official Languages' report. We sent two letters to the minister and expressed our deep disappointment at the letter she sent to the committee in response to its report.
We also met with a number of officials and stakeholders in Ottawa, including two members of the committee, two senior advisers to the Prime Minister, and representatives of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees.
As an industry and a very intellectual and cultural activity, professional translation is the definitive vector for the language rights of Canadians. It plays a crucial role in the Canadian society, its economy, its trade exchange, and its social fabric.
Some 82.5% of Canadians claim to be unilingual. How can these millions of Canadians interact with their fellow citizens across the country without the help of professional translators?
Translators, and certified translators, are the best equipped to respond to the language needs of Canadians and their international clients and prospects, and to guarantee their rights.
As a citizen, if I search for a judgment or a posting for a bilingual job in the language of my choice and it does not appear on my search results because there is no translated version, do I still have the same rights as another citizen?
The translation bureau is the largest supplier and client of translation services in Canada and therefore wields considerable responsibility and structuring potential given its purchasing power.
The decentralization of the federal demand fragmented the industry. With numerous micro-entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized translation agencies, in addition to multinational foreign agencies, the decentralization of federal demand has led to chaos. The government's procurement system is founded on the lowest bidder and is causing a downward spiral in rates, exacerbated by foreign competition. Given that so many Canadian service providers operate mainly on the contracts they obtain from the public sector, it is easy to see why the procurement system is such a crucial issue.
Translation is a vector of economic growth that supports national companies and exporters, fully contributing to the country's economy.
On the situation of the Translation Bureau, since 1995 the demand for translation has tripled but the budget allocation has remained identical; hence, the postponement and cancellation of some translations, [Inaudible--Editor] official language obligations still fulfilled by our governments. Transforming the Translation Bureau into a special operating agency has led to decentralization of the contracting authorities to all federal departments and agencies, resulting in a fragmentation of the industry that jeopardizes its very existence.
The redesign of the TB's procurement process opened up our markets to the invasion of foreign multinationals and led to the proliferation of agencies and freelancers, some not being competent.
Conformity to an independent certification, such as the Canadian standard, should be the basis for procurement policy and practices among purchasers of translation services. Qualification requirements must be strengthened. Service providers should have professional accreditation and translation education; they should have to meet quality and risk management criteria, particularly for tier 3 contracts.
For all standing offers, the burden of risk is entirely on the providers, because the TB guarantees only 3% of the volume indicated in the contract. The status quo is very detrimental to the Canadian language industry.
With regard to new translators coming into the market, no action has been taken. The Translation Bureau, which took 3,000 students during 10 years for training internships, is now largely absent. The 19 translation interns who were received in 2016, as Ms. Foote indicated, represent a paltry figure compared to the number of students enrolled in the Canadian schools of translation. Each year universities award degrees to hundreds of new translators, who can rely only on the private sector to take in students from co-operative programs.
As the head of professional training at the Department of Linguistics and Translation at the University of Montreal, I work every day with future translation jobseekers. I wish that in the next few days a message of hope will reach them.
That brings me to our recommendations.
First is recognition. We are not selling words. The Prime Minister needs to officially recognize the importance of Canada's language industry on cultural, identity, economic, and strategic issues.
The next is repositioning the Translation Bureau. All contracts for the entire public service must be centralized, and their execution reserved primarily for Canadians.
Working conditions and granting conditions of contracts must be reviewed. Weighting must be eliminated, because memories are not properly maintained, and quality must be reinforced as a major criterion. Random draws to choose between two providers bidding at the same price are nonsense. Would you grant a contract to build a bridge to one of two engineering companies through a draw?
The Translation Bureau's operating model must be revised. Its responsibility must be transferred to an authority other than Public Services and Procurement, because translation is a highly intellectual activity and not a simple product.
With revenue of $5 billion, Canada captures 10% of the global translation market. Canada must massively reinvest in official languages and the language industry and provide financial support.
With respect to the next generation and support programming, I would say that, as a centre of expertise in the country, the TB must establish a permanent structure for taking in interns from Canadian schools of translation.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, the industry needs your support.
The industry needs your support. Questions must be asked of Minister Foote. While we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017, and the 15th anniversary of the Official Languages Act in 2019, we strongly feel that this is a unique opportunity to take action—here and now.
We firmly believe that this is a unique opportunity to take action here and now.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.