Translation Bureau virtual capacity: Committee of the Whole—July 8, 2020
Document navigation for "Committee of the Whole: July 8, 2020"
On this page
Context
On June 11, 2020, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology experienced sound and interpretation issues leading the committee to adjourn the meeting earlier than scheduled.
Suggested response
- The government is committed to providing essential translation services to parliamentarians and Canadians
- To reduce the risk of interpretation service interruptions due to the technology used by remote participants, the Translation Bureau (TB) is collaborating with the House Administration to supply proper equipment to witnesses for virtual proceedings
- We are committed to continuing to work with House Administration and all our partners to support Parliament’s virtual sittings
If pressed on health and safety:
- ensuring the health and safety of interpreters is a priority for the Government of Canada
- guidelines have been developed to establish optimal conditions so that interpreters can provide high-quality service in a safe environment
If pressed on capacity:
- TB currently has approximately 70 official languages interpreters available to meet the needs of Parliament
- TB has the capacity to continue serving Parliament and the Government of Canada
Background
On June 11, 2020, the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology experienced sound quality issues during the witness statements that prevented adequate interpretation.
All testing procedures were followed to ensure audiovisual quality. Efforts made by all parties to resolve the sound quality issues were unsuccessful, thereby leading the committee to adjourn the meeting earlier than scheduled.
TB is collaborating with the House Administration to supply proper equipment to witnesses in order to reduce the risk of interpretation service interruptions due to the technology used by remote participants.
Certain criteria must be met in order for remote interpretation to work. These include the following:
- all participants must wear a headset with a microphone to ensure clear sound quality
- participants must appear via videoconference so that the interpreter can see their facial expressions and clearly communicate the tone of their message
- participants must strictly adhere to the rules for speaking, and must wait their turn to speak
- a technician must be in the room with the interpreters at all times to address any technical issues
- the audio feed for the interpretation consoles must have limiters or compressors to prevent acoustic shock
- interpreters must be able to do sound checks with the technician and participants before each meeting begins
- as always, participants who plan to read written statements must provide them in advance to interpreters
These criteria are needed to establish optimal conditions so that interpreters can provide high-quality service in a safe environment. Abiding by these criteria will not completely eliminate the risk of interpretation service interruptions due to the technology used by remote participants, but it will greatly reduce this risk and help ensure the best possible interpretation.
Translation Bureau health and safety
On May 4, 2020, during an exchange at Standing House Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (PROC), the president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees stated that out of the 70 TB interpreters working in official languages during the pandemic, there are about 40 interpreters that are unable to work because of child care or health issues.
TB has confirmed that these numbers are not accurate.
From January 1, 2019 to March 15, 2020, there was one report of a disabling injury and one report of a minor injury. Both employees are now recovered and have returned to work. Both incidents were a result of traditional (in person) interpretation. During the same time period, there were 28 other hazardous occurrences reported related to poor sound quality (for example, feedback, high-pitched noises, interference) and that resulted in fatigue, headaches, and hearing sensitivity. Two of these hazardous occurrences were related to remote interpretation (teleconferences), while the remainder were related to traditional interpretation.
With increased use of videoconferences over the last 2 months, there has been an increase in incident reports from interpreters, including headaches, earaches and fatigue due to poor sound quality. No acoustic shock or other injury requiring hospitalization has been reported.
Between March 16 and May 30, the bureau has received 56 hazardous occurrence incident reports:
- of these 56, 55 were related to sound quality
- 17 involved telephone audio
- 38 involved videoconference signal
- 1 was related to an external source (fire alarm signal)
TB has provided its interpreters with headsets with sound limiters to protect against acoustic shock and implemented a series of hygiene and physical distancing measures. In addition, the bureau requires its clients to take technical measures that promote not only the health of its interpreters but also high-quality interpretation. These include having a qualified audiovisual technician present at all times, remote participants’ use of good quality headsets with built-in microphones and good quality internet connections, and the provision documents to interpreters in advance of meetings.
TB’s approach aligns very closely to international best practices, including the International Association of Conference Interpreters principles, guidance for institutions and best practices.
Document navigation for "Committee of the Whole: July 8, 2020"
Page details
- Date modified: