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Interpreter VO: Hello! I'm Gary Malkowski,
the Special Advisor to the President and Public Affairs,
at the Canadian Hearing Society.
You may be familiar with
the incident that occurred with the interpreter
at the Nelson Mandela memorial service.
It was a memorial service
to recognize and celebrate his life
that occurred in South Africa.
The interpreter that was hired for this event
became a very big issue,
because he was unqualified and uncredentialed.
The World Federation of the Deaf
and the World Assosiaction of Sign Language Interpreters
have both released a press release
informing individuals and the public
of the significance of qualifications and accreditation
when hiring an interpreter at an event such as this.
The Canadian Association of the Deaf
and AVLIC, the Association of Visual Language Interpreters of Canada,
have also sent a clear message
on the significance of hiring qualified interpreters.
to allow for effective communication
between the interpreter, all parties, and the Deaf audience.
The concern here, is that
in Ontario, we are seeing many organizations,
and even the government agencies,
hiring unqualified interpreters,
looking first at the lower fee rather than the qualifications.
This is a significant issue,
and one that we want to raise awareness of.
Qualifications are very significant.
And this was a huge lesson
learnt from this fake interpreter,
that worked the Nelson Mandela memorial service.
And I think it sent a very powerful, strong message internationally
about the significance of qualified interpreters.