Arrange an interpreter for court proceedings
Interpreters make sure people who have difficulty understanding or speaking English or deaf and hard of hearing persons can understand court proceedings, and that those present in court can understand testimony that is given.
The court provides interpreters for:
- All criminal proceedings
- Family proceedings in provincial court
- Traffic court and municipal bylaw proceedings
Court Services Branch does not provide language interpreters for provincial court small claims cases.
The court also provides visual language interpreters (American Sign Language) and CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation - captioning services) for any court proceeding.
If you need an interpreter, please advise the registry as soon as possible.
Get help finding an interpreter:
- Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia
- Mosaic BC
- Clicklaw
- Immigration Interpreters Association
- DIVERSEcity
- Archway Community Services
- The Yellow Pages (under “translators and interpreters”)
Become a court interpreter
To be considered as a court interpreter, you will need to complete the Court Services Branch (CSB) Court Interpreter Application package.
The Court Interpreter Application package and / or questions can be sent to the Court Interpreter Program Lead at AskCIP@gov.bc.ca.
Interpreter resources
The following information is available for CSB Court Interpreters
If you have questions or need to contact CSB, please email AskCIP@gov.bc.ca.