The Translation Bureau is an institution of the federal

government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

operated by Public Services and Procurement Canada that provides translation services for all agencies, boards, commissions, and departments of the government. , 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 then government reorganized agencies to consolidate groups 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, 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 the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. It has used a statistical

machine translation Machine translation is use of computational techniques to translate text or speech from one language to another, including the contextual, idiomatic and pragmatic nuances of both languages. Early approaches were mostly rule-based or statisti ...

system named Portage developed by the

National Research Council Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; ) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research and development. It is the largest federal research and development organization in Canada. Th ...

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, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

East Cree East Cree, also known as James Bay (Eastern) 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 s ...

, Plains Cree, 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, jstor=j.ctt9qf21r {{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 nationa ...

, 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 the 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 ...

, 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