Since he launched his campaign, Mark Carney’s position on the French language has been clear: it’s a nuisance. Even now, he continues to treat Canada’s official bilingual status as a problem to solve rather than a point of pride. And francophones across the country are paying the price.
Just this month, Carney arranged for one of his constituents – a consultant not registered to lobby the government – to meet with high-level officials and outline his plan to use artificial intelligence and technology to eliminate the bilingualism requirement across the government. His reasoning? AI is ready to handle all that pesky translation work, and we don’t need to invest a penny into making sure Canadians all have access to information of equal quality.
Is that really the case? Of course not.
Translators have been using AI for years and have incorporated it into their work. But it is far from a magic solution. To ensure consistent quality and accurate translations, human input is still absolutely essential. When we talk about doubling or tripling processing speed, what we are really talking about is lowering quality standards.
Even without this consultant in the mix, we were already seeing AI being put forward as a panacea. GCTraduction, the government’s internal tool, was rolled out across several departments as a solution to the “problem” of translation, but instead of helping translators do their jobs, it is replacing them. They are pitted against the speed of a tool that produces instant “translations” that are inaccurate and unreliable – with no human oversight. This creates a viscous cycle where translators are expected to compete with the speed of a one-click tool and, as expectations to deliver more and deliver faster increase, translators are forced by Translation Bureau management to cut corners and aim for “good enough” to meet those demands.
Instead of bilingualism being promoted, its being undermined. As most translation work is done from English to French, francophones will disproportionately feel the impact. French speakers across the country will no longer have equal access to government information and services. Imagine this scenario, which could become commonplace: a francophone not getting a tax credit that an anglophone does because the necessary form was run through an AI tool and didn’t convey the right information?
If we want to keep the promise of bilingualism, this isn’t the way to do it.
But instead of defending this critical piece of Canadian identity, Carney’s government took a meeting to learn more about how it could be replaced.
The world of translation is evolving, and the more than 600 translators at the Translation Bureau are eager to offer their expertise to find a way forward that ensures Canada’s francophones are not left behind.
The Canadian Association of Professional Employees, the union that represents translators – as well as interpreters and terminologists – has been trying to secure a meeting with the prime minister to discuss their concerns and build a dialogue. The response? Radio silence.
There are a lot of concerns to address: budget cuts, ongoing health and safety issues, inadequate tools, professional integrity, lack of resources, and yes, AI. Unfortunately, it seems that peddling smart glasses is the only way to secure a meeting with high-ranking officials – not raising concerns of hundreds of specialists in the field.
Here is what I would have told Carney: The government’s new AI strategy is set to exacerbate these existing problems. Its development was led by the tech industry, and it was designed to work for the companies producing this technology, not for the people of Canada. So instead of a cautious, measured approach, we’re getting AI crammed into every crevice of our lives – whether it should be there or not. And whether or not francophones pay the price.
AI implementation should be cautious, reasonable and adaptable. It must be viewed as a support tool, not a replacement for workers or the necessary skills they provide. If the prime minister and his government prioritized listening to the people on the ground doing the work – and not snake oil salesmen – they would understand that. And they wouldn’t be putting the bilingual foundation of this country on the chopping block.
Antoine Hersberger,
Vice-president, TR
