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Results: 1 - 15 of 833
Charles Robert
View Charles Robert Profile
Charles Robert
2021-02-02 19:54
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the invitation to address the committee in relation to its study on the “Challenges of the Parliamentary Interpretation Service in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
The role of the House Administration in the provision of interpretation services is limited and focuses on the technical infrastructure. As you know, the interpreters are employed by the Translation Bureau, an agency of Public Services and Procurement Canada. The House is responsible for providing the facilities and tools required by the interpreters to support proceedings.
Over the years, and throughout the pandemic, the Administration has continued to work hand in hand with the Translation Bureau to ensure the health and safety of the interpreters and offer the high-quality interpretation services required by parliamentarians to do their work.
It is my understanding that you will be hearing from the Translation Bureau at a future meeting and that their representatives will be able to share with you information as to the many measures that they have put into place to address this situation.
Since the introduction of hybrid proceedings less than a year ago, the administration's senior management team has been keeping me apprised of the actions taken to ensure that the House's technological infrastructure could support a safe and rapid transition to the new hybrid environment.
Furthermore, the issue before you has been the subject of considerable discussion at recent meetings of the Board of Internal Economy. Information provided to the board by the administration was shared with the chair of the Liaison Committee, who in turn shared it with all committee chairs.
I will provide you with a brief overview of the investments and improvements that have been undertaken to enhance the safety and audio quality of our interpretation system. Along with my colleagues Stéphan and Eric, I will be ready to answer any questions you may have.
As participants in hybrid proceedings, you will already be familiar with some of these initiatives.
The equipment that participants use has a considerable impact on sound quality and a direct impact on interpreters capacity to do their work in adequate and secure fashion. For this reason, we provide Members of Parliament with high-quality headsets with integrated microphones. Given the importance of good connectivity for audio quality, the Administration implemented a comprehensive review of connectivity services available to all Members in their ridings and helped procure upgraded Internet services where necessary. We also reallocated resources to offer enhanced IT support to Members in order to provide hands-on and timely assistance.
Another critical variable that impacts the audio quality of proceedings is the technology and equipment used by witnesses. This is a challenging variable to control, especially in instances where appearances before a committee are organized on short notice. To help mitigate this, we are extending a program whereby we systematically reach out to witnesses to schedule testing of their equipment and connections prior to their participation in committee meetings. In the recent past, this was done by email, but we will now do so by telephone, and it is our hope that the new process will increase results.
Furthermore, we have for many months now shipped headsets to witnesses who may be in need of them, and we have also offered to test connections, something that we will now be insisting on.
We also continue to make significant technological investments in our precinct infrastructure, all in keeping with evolving health and safety recommendations. For instance, noise-limiting interpretation consoles were installed in all 17 committee rooms, as well as in two multi-purpose rooms in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building.
We also set up additional simultaneous interpretation booths: two interpretation booths were added in all committee rooms and three were added to support the Chamber. This was done to allow for better physical distancing as per public health guidelines and to allow for easier and more timely cleaning of the booths.
Our technicians also improved audio programming and system configurations for the Chambers’ sound systems to reduce instances of echo. Updates were also made to the Zoom videoconferencing platform to enhance the user experience.
On the topic of Zoom, I should point out that most parliaments that are operating in a virtual manner are using the Zoom platform, including parliaments using more than one language, such as ours. We are in constant contact with colleagues in other parliaments in order to share best hybrid parliament practices.
In conclusion, I would like to mention that this summer, we participated, with the Translation Bureau, in reviews of the sound system and health and safety protocols in the Chamber and in two committee rooms. The results of these reviews, which were conducted by National Research Council of Canada, were very positive. We are currently focused on facilitating further analysis and possible future fine-tuning of the systems and equipment.
We remain committed to collaborating with Public Services and Procurement Canada so that we can continue to make improvements to the work environment of our interpreters. The commitment to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for everyone is shared by all in the parliamentary community and remains the highest priority in the current environment.
Thank you for the opportunity to address this important topic. Eric, Stéphan and I would be pleased to answer your questions.
Thank you.
View Bernard Généreux Profile
CPC (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be brief.
Mr. Duclos, thank you for being here today.
We all know that the translation bureau reports to Public Services and Procurement Canada, not to Treasury Board.
I hope the interpreters are able to hear me clearly right now. The sound quality on Zoom, which we are required to use to do our parliamentary work, is poor for all the interpreters who translate what we say every day. Many of them are literally becoming ill.
We are going to do a study on this next week. Since your department is the official languages champion in Canada, I want to know your opinion.
View Jean-Yves Duclos Profile
Lib. (QC)
Mr. Généreux, I am pleased that you are doing a study on it. Mr. Blaney actually referred to it earlier.
I am very pleased that you are highlighting your sense of gratitude and admiration for the interpreters, who have been working in very difficult conditions since the beginning of the pandemic. We all have a role to play in helping them, and we should all express our gratitude to them as often as possible.
Good luck with your study. I really look forward to the results.
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
2020-12-10 13:25
Were you aware of this committee, PROC, doing the hard work of trying to figure out how to operate virtually and have the House of Commons actually sit throughout the pandemic? Did you know that we had to fight hard with opposition parties for changes to the Standing Orders to actually co-operate to allow us to operate virtually?
Philippe Lagassé
View Philippe Lagassé Profile
Philippe Lagassé
2020-12-10 13:25
Yes. I was following quite closely. My concern, though, is that—
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
2020-12-10 13:25
Thank you for that.
What about voting virtually? Were you aware that voting is such a key aspect of our parliamentary proceedings? Were you aware that we had to fight tooth and nail and debate at length to get opposition parties to agree to allow us to vote by video?
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Philippe Lagassé
View Philippe Lagassé Profile
Philippe Lagassé
2020-12-10 13:26
Because they were seeking in-person sessions, I believe.
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
2020-11-24 12:07
Thank you very much for that clarification. To me, these are standard items that just go without saying.
It was brought up before about capacity. I realize that we've expanded the capacity in a hybrid setting to operate committees and caucuses virtually. I know there have still been some challenges around securing the necessary interpretation and translation capacity. I understand that it's a human resource issue.
Is anything being done on that front and is there a budget implication?
Mr. Speaker, maybe I can put that to you and you can direct it to whoever is best to answer that one.
View Anthony Rota Profile
Lib. (ON)
The challenge has certainly been having the right people. Our people have worked quite long hours and they have acquired further resources.
To elaborate on that, I'll pass it over to Mr. Aubé, who can tell us a little bit more about what's been going on in the background. Again, it's what's going on in the background. When you go into the bowels of the IT department and find out what's happening, you really grow to appreciate the work and the overtime and the hours that have gone into making sure that everything works well.
I've spoken to a number of speakers from around the world. We are the envy of the world. It has been working out very well for us, thanks to their hard work.
Mr. Aubé.
Stéphan Aubé
View Stéphan Aubé Profile
Stéphan Aubé
2020-11-24 12:09
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Turnbull, for the question.
As you know, the interpretation services are provided by Public Works to the House of Commons as a service. We have been in dialogue with them because they understood through the summer that we needed to go back to pre-pandemic levels from a committee and a caucus perspective.
Having said that, through our discussions with them it was clearly identified to us that they are having a human resource issue. It's the availability and capacity of resources here in Ottawa for them to be able offer the services to us. They are looking at different scenarios to actually have access to different resources across Canada.
I would not say that it is a funding issue, Mr. Turnbull. The issue is more linked to the availability and capacity of resources for them in order to expand the services that we require here on the Hill.
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
Lib. (ON)
View Ryan Turnbull Profile
2020-11-24 12:09
You have the budget that you need to expand that human resource capacity if needed. It is needed and it sounds like you're in the midst of solving that issue. You do have the financial resources, right?
Stéphan Aubé
View Stéphan Aubé Profile
Stéphan Aubé
2020-11-24 12:10
I've not been told by PSPC that they have a budgeting issue. They've actually allocated more funds to try to recruit more people. The showstopper is not the budget for them.
View Kirsty Duncan Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank all our witnesses today. I, too, would like to recognize the extraordinary job the House leadership has done in allowing a virtual hybrid Parliament.
I will talk briefly about health. Today, there are 11.5 million cases worldwide and the U.S. is at 2.9 million cases. We are not finished the first wave and I, too, would argue that the most important thing is the health and safety of everyone involved.
I would first ask our Speaker, if I may. I'm looking, Mr. Speaker, for yes-or-no answers here. Was the hybrid Parliament secure?
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