Language Services Report
For The Period April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2006

The Language Interpreter Service of the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association provides both interpretation (spoken) and translation (written) language services to the community through our funded and fee-for-service programs. The 2005-2006 program year was one of change and expansion.  We welcomed a new program officer from the Ministry of Citizenship and also recruited several interpreters who were tested and trained. Over the year we have provided quality service to over 100 newcomers, victims of domestic violence, and service providers here in Thunder Bay and in the region.

We continue to build partnerships with many organizations and service providers in the city to implement protocols for efficient and appropriate service.  We served over 100 clients with more than 650 hours of service in both Ministry of Citizenship-funded and fee-for-service areas.

Translation/Interpretation was available and provided in the following languages: Arabic, Burmese, Cantonese, Cree, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Ojibway, Oji-Cree, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Both a generic service and a specific service for family violence and domestic assault-related assignments under the Violence Against Women Prevention Initiatives funded by Ministry of Citizenship were offered to the community.

Our service responds to requests from Thunder Bay Police, Ontario Provincial Police and Anishnabek Police Services APS/NAPS. We also have requests for service from Nipigon, Geraldton, Sault Ste. Marie, Marathon, Manitouwadge, Fort Frances, and Schreiber-Terrace Bay Police, and domestic violence courts. We serve the region from Sault Ste. Marie to Fort Frances in the Domestic Violence court system and for generic requests.  Other areas of interpretation requests are health, legal, pension, drivers licensing, immigration, business, and education-related.

We participate on several committees and advisory groups concerning the issue of family violence. Some of our partners in the community are the Victim Witness Program, local lawyers and law firms, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Probation and Parole, Police Services, LRFC, Thunder Bay Housing, Crown Attorneys, Faye Peterson Transition House, Beendigen Shelter, Catholic Family Development Centre, PARS program and many others.