Translation Bureau to cut a quarter of its workforce over next 5 years

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 3:14 PM EDT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago

A national nationalist work national is condemning a determination by Canada's Translation Bureau to chopped its workforce by one-quarter over the adjacent 5 years.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE), which represents unit translators on Parliament Hill, released a statement Thursday greeting condemning the bureau's concern program for 2025 to 2030. According to CAPE, the bureau plans to chopped 339 positions implicit that play through attrition. 

The Translation Bureau provides translation services for each Canadian government agencies, boards, commissions and departments, and is nether the jurisdiction of Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC).

CAPE president Nathan Prier told CBC that the bureau's enactment is important for upholding bilingualism, and said reducing its workforce undermines the right of francophone Canadians to entree reliable information.

Prier said the simplification volition spot a strain connected remaining translators, and called for PSPC to cancel the plan.

"That's going to unit translators to enactment faster with less resources, and it's going to mean that there's an unacceptable diminution successful quality," helium said.

PSPC spokesperson Michèle LaRose said the reduction is a effect to a projected alteration successful demand for the Translation Bureau's services. A 2024 Linkedin station by PSPC listed the bureau's workforce at roughly 1,350 employees.

The Bloc Québécois besides condemned the determination to trim the Translation Bureau's workforce.

"In little than a week, the Liberals person eliminated the Department of Official Languages and are present cutting backing to the Translation Bureau," the enactment said successful a statement. "These are 2 nonstop affronts to Quebecers and francophones successful Canada."

Focus connected AI

The bureau of Ali Ehsassi, the curate of authorities transformation, nationalist services and procurement, said successful a French-language connection that the Translation Bureau "plays an indispensable relation successful the creaseless moving of our authorities and successful promoting our 2 authoritative languages successful Canada."

The connection besides notes the diminution successful request for translation services, arsenic good arsenic technological advances specified arsenic artificial intelligence.

Prier rejected those explanations, calling the unit simplification "austerity for austerity's sake." He besides criticized the prime of AI-generated translation.

"AI is amazing, it does large enactment and it should beryllium determination to enactment quality translators, but it's not acceptable to regenerate a azygous quality translator, and particularly erstwhile you spell to longer-form documents," helium said.

In its 2024 autumn economical statement, which explains however past fiscal year's shortage ballooned to $61.9 billion, the national authorities highlighted its usage of artificial intelligence to boost productivity wrong the nationalist service.

According to the autumn economical statement, the Translation Bureau holds an extended repository of bilingual texts that are invaluable for grooming artificial quality models to recognize and make close translations.

"Large connection AI models and instrumentality translation volition fundamentally alteration the mode we work, but Canadians request connection AI that relies on, and generates, Canadian content," it said.