By Genaro Fernandez

Dear colleagues:

Things are stirring up at PCIO. There’s a proposal to be sent to the Attorney General of Ontario, backed by a request to the opposition’s Justice critic, for a change to legislation; the ONLY way interpreters could have a voice and have legitimate representation recognized by the Ministry of the Attorney General - MAG.

The thrust of this initiative is the designation of MAG accredited interpreters as Officers of the Court, with the immediate benefit of having their MAG-issued credentials reinstated, plus redress to their most important grievances. There are many more but those will have to wait until PCIO has a solid foothold backed by legislation.

This double prong approach is customary in the Ontario Legislature to ensure that should the intended target not act on the proposal (the AG) pressure can be exerted by the opposition as a Private Member’s Bill to ensure it’s discussed and hopefully, passed.

A complete binder of the proposal (contains the entire, properly formatted proposal for change to legislation as well as two separate cover letters) have been posted to the PCIO Google Group by Genaro Hernandez, in a message.

PCIO may soon incorporate as a non-profit organization.

It’s an ambitious quest but PCIO members cannot afford to continue the status quo. Members will have to convince themselves of the proposal’s feasibility, plus learn of the many benefits associated with MAG conferring PCIO members the Officer of the Court designation. The time for ACTION is now!