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 ...

operated by

Public Services and Procurement Canada Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC; french: Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada)''Public Services and Procurement Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Public Works ...

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

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

s. 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 Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

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 Neural machine translation (NMT) is an approach to machine translation that uses an artificial neural network to predict the likelihood of a sequence of words, typically modeling entire sentences in a single integrated model. Properties They requi ...

and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

. 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 Aboriginal peoples in Canada, indigenous group of First Nations in Canada, First Nations who inhabit the northern Boreal forest of Canada, boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languag ...

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 spok ...

, Plains Cree, and

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

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 ''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...

, 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 The McGill–Queen's University Press (MQUP) is a joint venture between McGill University in Montreal, Quebec and Queen's University at Kingston in Kingston, Ontario. McGill–Queen's University Press publishes original peer-reviewed works in m ...

, 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 ''The Hill Times'' is a Canadian twice-weekly newspaper and daily news website, published in Ottawa, Ontario, which covers the Parliament of Canada, the federal government, and other federal political news. Founded in 1989 by Ross Dickson and Jim ...

, 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 ...

, 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.ca. ...

, 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=

, publisher=

Canada NewsWire CNW Group Ltd., also called Canada Newswire and CNW, is a commercial press release service owned by Cision. Cision Distribution services in Canada are powered by Canada Newswire. The service is offered stand-alone or as part of its flagshiCision ...

, date=15 August 2019, access-date=15 December 2022

External links

Translation Bureau
at

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