Complaints Concerning Interpretation
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB)
IRB Operations
June 2006
Interpretation at the IRB
The IRB Interpreter's Unit is dedicated to providing quality interpretation
services to people who appear before the Board in the Refugee Protection
Division, the Immigration Division and the Immigration Appeal Division.
Over 90% of IRB proceedings require interpretation services. The IRB
provides accredited interpreters with an orientation to Board processes.
Interpreters are employed on a contractual basis and are not employees
of the Board.
Our standards are high and defined by the following criteria:
- Interpretation should be continuous, without breaks and complete.
- Interpretation should be precise, as close as can be to word-for-word
and without summaries or changes in grammar and syntax; it should be
in the first person.
- Interpretation should be impartial; the interpreter is not a witness.
- Interpretation should be competent; the interpreter must take an
oath and should his or her competence be in doubt, an inquiry into
competence should be made.
- Interpretation should be contemporaneous, consecutive, rather than
simultaneous.
The IRB provides
interpretation in over 260 languages in some 40,00-60,000 procedures
a year. Quality interpretation helps assure quality decisions, and the IRB has
developed a rigorous testing and accreditation system to ensure interpreters
at the Board are well qualified.
Quality control
The Board is committed to ensuring the highest quality of interpretation
services. Every interpreter under contact with the IRB is
subject to at least one random audit of his or her performance in the
hearing room. As well, Regional Interpreters Units welcome and encourage
observations from members and IRB personnel
on the quality of interpreters' work and issues of comportment.
Interpreters are aware of their obligations in connection with conflicts
of interest. If any problems are identified via the audits or observations,
the regional interpreters unit will take appropriate action - including
the termination of an interpreter's contract - where circumstances
warrant.
Case-related complaints
Complaints regarding interpreter competency or comportment are rare. Most
arise in connection with a case that is being heard, or that has been
heard, by one of the IRB's divisions.
Parties must raise concerns with respect to interpretation during the
course of the hearing, at the first opportunity, unless there are exceptional
circumstances for not doing so. The Member who is hearing the case will
decide on the appropriate course of action in accordance with the rules
of natural justice.
Where concerns arise regarding interpreter competency based on information
that only became available after a matter was decided, it may be possible
to apply for reopening as provided for in the Rules of the Division,
the Immigration and Refugee
Protection Act (IRPA)
or according to the relevant case law. In such cases applications should
be made in writing and should be sufficiently
detailed
to enable the tribunal to act.
Regional Interpreters Units, responsible for arranging interpretation
for the various proceedings that take place, take note of case-based
complaints and the decisions of the tribunal or the Courts in that connection
and exercise their prerogatives under the contract established with each
interpreter as required.
Other complaints
Any person, whether or not within the Board, may have concerns regarding
the competency or comportment of an interpreter, accredited to work before
the IRB, that is not related to a particular case. Such concerns should
be raised in detail in writing with the head of the regional interpreters
unit or with the Regional Director, who will consider the matter and
take the appropriate action.
To make a complaint, write to:
The Registrar - Western Region
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
Library Square
300 West Georgia Street, Suite 1600
Vancouver, BC V6B 6C9
The Registrar - Central Region
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
74 Victoria Street, Suite 400
Toronto, ON M5C 3C7
The Registrar - Eastern Region
Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada
200 René-Lévesque Boulevard West
Guy Favreau Complex, East Tower, Room 102
Montreal, QC H2Z 1X4
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