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INTERPRETERS / LANGUAGE SUPPORT FOR SPONSORS
With the arrival of our first group of refugees, some issues have been raised and the one that seems to be causing the most concern and confusion appears to be "interpreters". I felt that I should address this issue for those of you that are experiencing difficulties and to assist others prior to receiving their families.
There are three different language supports available – depending on the need. I will try to explain how these options work.
Volunteers: The Canadian Albanian Community
Volunteer or non-paid language support may be available to assist you with the basic tasks such as shopping, telephone, community orientation, general information or conversations. You may find that it would be useful to have a volunteer with you during the initial arrival and for basic tasks during the first day or two. The Canadian Albanian Community has offered to arrange
for volunteers. Please phone Zenel Lumani at 633-0566.Cross Cultural Learner Centre: Second Language Assistants
Each family and sponsor will be introduced to one of our seven Settlement Counsellors: Susan Abouali, Dariush Bagheri, Tam Dam, Judy Green, Jan Jasnos, Neline Lalani, or Gisele Varillas. They can provide you with information to assist you with your sponsorship roles and provide one-on-one counselling for your families. Our Counsellors will try to contact the sponsor once we have been notified of the match and arrival dates. If you have not received a call from one of the above, feel free to contact Gisele to find out the name of the Settlement Counsellor who is appointed to your family. Each family will become (if you and they wish), a client of the Centre and as such, we will provide language support, if necessary, to assist with their needs – i.e. signing or filling out legal documents, attending to the first medical appointments, etc. Our Counsellors, with the support of our Language Assistants, provide a multitude of services to newcomers as well as advocacy when necessary. This service is free to all newcomers. Our Counsellors must initiate requests for these "Second Language Assistants", as it will cost the Centre for their services. Please contact your Settlement Counsellor for further information on this. All Settlement Counsellors are located at our 171 Queens Avenue, Suite 510 location and can be reached at 850-0050.
Across Languages: Cultural Interpreters
Our community is fortunate to have the services of trained professionals who can be called upon by service providers, institutions, health professional, individuals, etc. to provide "professional" interpretation. These interpreters provide the language and cultural communication between the client and the service – bridging the communication gap and ensuring that all information is exchanged and that each party understands the information. This is crucial for medical and legal discussions, which could impact of the future well being of our newcomer clients. The professional or service provider traditionally generates requests for this type of support and the cost is born by the party requesting this support. As an example – if you are arranging for a medical appointment you may wish to ask the doctor if he will be contacting Across Languages for an Interpreter for the appointment. Across Languages can be reached at 642-7247. Please contact them for more information about their services.
