Official Languages Committee on Feb. 9th, 2017

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Go ahead, Marie.

[Marie Lemay]

If I may, I would like to make a few important points about the students before I turn it over to Mr. Gibson.

The 50 students are from language programs. In the past, we hired students, but there was a mix; now we are talking about a firm commitment for 50 students from language programs. This is an important point.

[Adam Gibson]

We have an office in Winnipeg and we have already been in touch with the Université de Saint-Boniface. We intend to hire students there. As our regional managers there always say, we have had ties with that university for a long time. I wanted to make that point.

As to the co-op program, I cannot provide too much detail because I do not know exactly how it works. That said, I know we are creating the kind of program that matches students up with experienced translators. The students will not be making photocopies or anything like that. They will truly be working in their field of translation, and the revisors, the Bureau's experienced staff, will create a high-quality training environment for them. That is how the programs work.

We also have other programs in which we work closely with the universities. We contribute to their programs and always try to reach as many students as possible.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Vandal.

Mr. Samson, would you like to add something quickly?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

As my friend Mr. Généreux often says, hiring an officer responsible for product quality is really the key to a company's success. This approach clearly means that someone will be responsible for that quality, which is very good.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

Mr. Choquette, you have two minutes.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

When do you expect to hire the quality officer?

[Marie Lemay]

We are going through the bureaucratic steps of creating the position right now. We will wait until the new CEO is hired to ensure that the team is made of people who share the same vision.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Lemay.

Unless I am mistaken, 30 positions were eliminated by attrition in 2016-2017, but then 19 people were hired. Are the 30 positions that were eliminated translator or interpreter positions?

As to the people who were hired, I believe they were mostly terminologists. Is that correct?

[Marie Lemay]

No interpreter positions were eliminated. The positions eliminated were translator and other positions.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Which positions are you referring to?

[Marie Lemay]

They are translator and other positions, but remember that we hired some people.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Translators or terminologists?

[Marie Lemay]

That's a good question.

[Adam Gibson]

I don't have the details, but I don't think they are terminologists.

[Marie Lemay]

We can check and get back to you with that information.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Yes.

There have been drastic cuts in recent years and they are continuing, unfortunately, putting pressure on interpreters and translators. If we continue to cut translator positions and hire terminologists, that does not ease the pressure on interpreters and translators.

Do you understand my question, Madam Minister?

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Absolutely, I do. This is something we will look at in terms of our numbers to see where we've been hiring, where we haven't been, and where the shortcomings are, and we will respond positively to that.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Choquette.

Madam Minister, thank you very much for your excellent work and your open mind.

I would also like to thank all my colleagues for the chemistry we have on this committee.

We intend to table a supplementary report of the committee in the House of Commons, recapping your appearance here this morning.

[Judy Foote, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

We will take a short break.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Let us resume our study of the Translation Bureau.

For the second hour, we are pleased to have with us again Marie Lemay, Deputy Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada, and Adam Gibson, acting CEO of the Translation Bureau. With them is Lucie Séguin, vice-president of corporate services at the Translation Bureau.

Welcome.

Does anyone have a report? I see not.

Let us go straight to the questions and comments.

We will start with Mr. Joël Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In the first hour, we congratulated Minister Foote, who appeared before the committee this morning. We also commended all the work done and the way the department listened to the committee's recommendations regarding the Translation Bureau. There seems to be good chemistry among the members from the different parties. I would simply point out that that exists elsewhere as well. I am filling in for someone here, but I can say that I have noticed a strong connection between the translation mission and the two official languages.

To be a bit of a killjoy, I would like to ask the witnesses a question about the committee's recommendation 4b), which was that “the Government of Canada implement a program to regain its lost expertise in technical, scientific and multilingual translation”. In response to this recommendation, the government informed the committee that it is using the private sector to provide services in certain specialized subject areas, in particular, technical, scientific and multilingual translation.

Where is the program? The answer provided does not really follow up on the committee's recommendation. I would like to know what program has been implemented, and what its timelines are please.