Canadian Government Interpreters Oppose Project to Use Non-Accredited Interpreters
                     Canadian Government Interpreters 
Oppose Project to Use Non-Accredited 
Interpreters
Canada’s Board of Internal Economy (BOIE), which manages finances for the House of 
Commons, has approved a six-month pilot project that allows the use of “external” and 
“remote” interpreters for parliamentary sessions. The pilot project enables the House of 
Commons to hire freelance interpreters directly, excluding the government’s own 
Translation Bureau. 
The Translation Bureau is in charge of qualifying and staffing official accredited 
translators, interpreters and terminologists, and shared the news on a recent briefing with
interpreters, including members of Canada’s chapter of the International Association of 
Conference interpreters (AIIC). Many AIIC members regularly work at Parliamentary Hill 
and expressed concern over the government’s move in a press release dated July 19, 
2022.
The BOIE approved the pilot project on May 19, 2022 and it commenced third week of 
July.
Nicole Gagnon, AIIC member and advocacy lead for government interpreters in Canada, 
told Slator that she and her colleagues understand the need to solve the shortage of 
interpreters. However, this should not be done at the expense of rigor and quality, she 
said, ignoring standards that work and had taken a long time to put in place.
“For over five years, interpreters have been asking the government to invest in 
interpreter training programs and efficient recruitment and scheduling systems,” Gagnon 
said, all of which she believes would have prevented the interpreter shortage. “Nothing 
has been done,” she added, and instead of a viable solution the government is resorting to 
what she called “a quick fix.”
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Gagnon added, “Preserving high standards when qualifying interpreters will maintain the 
trust that members of parliament and the Canadian people have placed in the Translation 
Bureau as the agency responsible for enforcing Canada’s Official Languages Act.”
She also mentioned that this pilot project is just another in a sequence of working 
condition grievances for interpreters. Among them, over-scheduling before Covid and 
hearing problems, which those affected attributed to the use of remote interpreting 
systems during and after the pandemic. 
On that subject, Gagnon told Slator that “Interpreters are not against the technology used
in remote sessions so long as it meets quality standards and is used in a way that makes 
sense, such as for small meetings, not large parliamentary sessions.”