The Translation Bureau is an institution of the federal

government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

operated by Public Services and Procurement Canada that provides translation services for all agencies, boards, commissions, and departments of the government. As of December 2022, the bureau employs 130 interpreters, of which about 70 are on staff and 60 are freelancers. It is one of the largest "government organizations dedicated to translation". The bureau was transferred from the Department of the Secretary of State to Public Works and Government Services Canada in June 1993, when the government at that time reorganized agencies to consolidate groups within the government primarily tasked with providing services to other government organizations, referred to as common service organizations (CSOs). The number of interpreters employed by the bureau affects the number of Parliamentary committee sessions that can be conducted. Freelance interpreters are not accredited by the Translation Bureau. Public Services and Procurement Canada only works with accredited interpreters, prioritizing those with an open contract. Tasks of interpreters include live interpretation during House of Commons debates and committee meetings, and translation of documentation such as

Acts of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliament ...

, bills, correspondence, and reports. The bureau has investigated the use of various technologies to provide its services, including neural machine translation and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, moveme ...

. It has used a statistical

machine translation Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT (not to be confused with computer-aided translation, machine-aided human translation or interactive translation), is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates t ...

system named Portage developed by the

National Research Council Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...

since 2016. This system is used in conjunction with human translators. In January 2019, the bureau began providing translation services in

Dene The Dene people () are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. ''Dene'' is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" h ...

East Cree East Cree, also known as (Eastern) James Bay Cree, and East Main Cree, is a group of Cree dialects spoken in Quebec, Canada on the east coast of lower Hudson Bay and James Bay, and inland southeastward from James Bay. Cree is one of the most sp ...

Plains Cree Plains Cree may refer to: * Plains Cree language * Plains Cree people Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically liv ...

, and Mohawk.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite news, url=https://slator.com/cats-and-dogs-trigger-machine-translation-row-in-canada/, title=Cats and dogs trigger machine translation row in Canada, last=Marking, first=Marion, work=Slator, date=8 February 2016, access-date=15 December 2022 {{cite magazine, url=https://thewalrus.ca/how-canada-accidentally-helped-crack-computer-translation/, title=How Canada accidentally helped crack computer translation, last=Mitchell, first=Christine, magazine= The Walrus, date=7 March 2022, access-date=8 March 2022 {{cite encyclopedia, url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qf21r, encyclopedia=How Ottawa spends, 1996-97: Life under the knife, title=Public works and government services: Beautiful theory meets ugly reality, editor-last=Swimmer, editor-first=Gene, last=Roberts, first=Alasdair, publisher= McGill–Queen's University Press, date=1996, pages=171-204 {{cite news, url=https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2022/12/13/work-interrupted-new-hires-remote-interpretation-set-to-boost-committee-capacity-in-new-year/358881/, title=Work, interrupted: new hires, remote interpretation set to boost committee capacity in new year, last=Ryckewaert, first=Laura, work= The Hill Times, date=13 December 2022 {{cite news, url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/parliament-hill-interpreters-concerned-over-translation-quality-if-feds-hire-non-accredited-staff-1.6031216, title=Parliament Hill interpreters concerned over translation quality if feds hire non-accredited staff, last=van Dyk, first=Spencer, work=

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national n ...

, date=17 August 2022, access-date=15 December 2022 {{cite news, url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/translator-house-of-commons-1.5016715, title=Cree translator in House of Commons 'proud' to be part of history, last1=Wapachee, first1=Celina, last2=Wapachee, first2=Cheryl, work=

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.c ...

, date=13 February 2019, access-date=15 December 2022 {{cite press release, url=https://slator.com/9-highlights-in-machine-translation-what-to-expect-at-amta-2022/, author=Association for Machine Translation in the Americas, title=9 highlights in machine translation — what to expect at AMTA 2022, work=Slator, date=18 August 2022, access-date=15 December 2022 {{cite press release, url=https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/translation-bureau-establishes-industry-advisory-committee-853750347.html, title=Translation Bureau establishes industry advisory committee, author= Public Services and Procurement Canada, publisher= Canada NewsWire, date=15 August 2019, access-date=15 December 2022

External links

Translation Bureau
at Public Services and Procurement Canada
Translation Bureau Regulations
at Justice Laws Federal departments and agencies of Canada Translation organizations 1934 establishments in Canada