MINUTES. 3. Adoption of the 2015 AGM minutes Motion to approve the minutes was made by Carmen Aguilera. It was seconded by Perla Ben Zvi.

Transcription

1 ATIA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta/ Association des traducteurs et interprètes de l'alberta (ATIA) October 15, 2016 Social Room, Avenue NW, Edmonton AB MINUTES Members present: Carmen Aguilera Allettie Bastiaansen Perla Ben Zvi Mariam El Sakka Russell Gillis Abraham Jang Sandeep Kang Regina Landeck Cécile Magnan Suzette Martin-Johnson Hellen Martinez Cinthia Mazur Patricia McGrory Edward Montgomery Svetlana Palmer Roula Salam Raj Sandal Kerry Sluchinski Kathryn Watson (by Skype) 1. Call to order The meeting was called to order at 1:32 p.m. by President, Hellen Martinez. 2. Approval of agenda Motion to add the presentation of certificates to new certified members as a new item to the agenda was made by Regina Landeck. It was seconded by Patricia McGrory. All in favour. 3. Adoption of the 2015 AGM minutes Motion to approve the minutes was made by Carmen Aguilera. It was seconded by Perla Ben Zvi. 4. Presentation of certificates Certificates were presented to the following new certified members: Suzette Martin-Johnson (Certified Translator) and Raj Sandal (Court Interpreter). 4. Reports: A. President s Report Hellen Martinez I. Professional development. a) "Grammar for Translators" workshops were offered twice in The attendees' feedback has been very positive. b) The "Introduction to Translation" workshop led by Regina Landeck was offered in Edmonton and Calgary in September. The workshops were well attended. c) A "Court Interpretation Boot Camp" was offered early in the year. Based on the feedback received, the courses may need to be more localized.

2 II. Stakeholders ATIA has been in contact with different community organizations. Calgary Police Services is organizing an interpreter and translator database. They have requested ATIA's assistance in providing guidance on requirements and standards that need to be considered. III. Court Interpreters - Calgary ATIA continues to bring awareness to Courts about our membership requirements. IV. Events ATIA was present at different events throughout the year. It is worth noting that our community interpreters are excellent ambassadors for our organization. They showcase their pride in belonging to ATIA. V. Associate-level exam marking Based on the way some exams have been marked in the past, a new marking process will be in place to make sure that markers' comments remain fair and objective providing valuable and beneficial feedback to candidates who failed. A copy of the marked exam will be provided to the candidates who did not pass the examination. VI. CTTIC There have been some problems with the exam process; however, CTTIC is working on improving it. VII. Law Day in Calgary and Edmonton Early in the year ATIA participated in Law Day by having a booth manned by volunteer members. It was a great opportunity to showcase our organization and have a presence among many other organizations providing legal services. ATIA will be looking to participate again in 2017 and volunteers are needed to make it happen. B. Vice-President s Report (Calgary) Candy Cheung Vice-President Calgary was not present. No report is attached. C. Vice-President s Report (Edmonton) Perla Ben Zvi I. Public Relations VP Edmonton has approached several organizations in Edmonton to make them aware of ATIA. It has been a challenge to communicate with them. Organizations have shown little interest in learning about our membership and services. II. Courts Courts have their own assessment process for interpreters. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to connect with Shannon Prithipaul who organizes the ACIC training in Edmonton. III. Law Day in Edmonton The event was an excellent opportunity to make the public and other legal-related agencies aware of ATIA. Many ATIA members volunteered in this event. Some individuals mentioned that they thought that ATIA was a translation agency. Many individuals expressed that they intend to become members of our association. D. Secretary s Report Patricia McGrory Secretary read her report. Report is attached as Schedule A. It is recorded that this meeting was attended by 19 members in person and one by Skype. Twenty proxies from members were received prior to the meeting.

3 E. Administrative Assistant s Report Joyce Aulenback Report is attached as Schedule B. F. Chamber of Commerce Reports (Calgary) Joad Clément Report is attached as Schedule C G. TransLit Report By a written note sent to council prior to the AGM, Gilles Mossière has indicated that the deadline for submission of works for TransLit vol. 11 has been extended. 5. Report on the Association s Finances A. Treasurer s Report Kathryn Watson (by Skype) Report is attached as Schedule D. B. Approval of the Audited Financial Statements Motion to approve the Financial Statement as presented to attendees was made by Regina Landeck. Motion was seconded by Edward Montgomery. All in favour. C. Comparative balance sheet as of August 31, 2016 The amount of the RBC security bond should actually be $5,700 and therefore on the Saving Account Stamp Bonds will be corrected from the amount lower of $3, D. Approval of the Budget Kathryn Watson explained the proposed budget. Explanation and discussion: a) Under Expenses some items were allocated in different places (e.g. ATIA academy includes workshops. CTTIC expenses do not include travel for attending their meetings, and CTTIC costs have increased; Advertising/promotion needs review). Stripe/PayPal expenses need to be adjusted. b) Some membership fees were still unpaid as of August 31, 2016; therefore, the amount is lower in relation to the number of members. Courses and workshops are combined; since they will be offered more often, an increase is expected. c) Advertising and promotion amount to increase to $2,800 d) Discussed advertising in the AB Legal Directory for one year $1,200 e) Chamber of Commerce budget line does not include Edmonton's Chamber of Commerce activities. It was suggested that a line for Edmonton promotion in the amount of $600 be added. f) There is a net loss of $5,205 when we take into account all budget amendments requested. g) A motion to accept the proposed budget as amended at the meeting today was made by Kathryn Watson. Perla Ben Zvi seconded the motion. All in favour. The budget is attached to these minutes as Schedule E. 6. Old Business A. Executive Director position This position has been discussed during the morning session. A document outlining the proposed Executive Director position is attached as Schedule F. B. Website The new website features were reviewed. There have been certain problems with our domain name,

4 which is a sub-domain through Tucows/Telus. Our new domain is and it will be more cost effective. The challenge will be for search engines to recognize it. It may take some time to get to the top of search engines (Google). POST MEETING Update: This was discussed with the website designer again and he said that the current domain name is fine and is not a problem. The domain name, atia.ab.ca is registered with Telus and their website interface is challenging to work with. We have three years left with Telus so we may want to look for a new domain provider and hope that we can keep our domain name. A website has a dedicated IP address and this is through a server, e.g. Fused. If we had to change our host from Fused, someone would have to work with Telus to change the IP address. When you change your domain name you lose SEO status with google (that s how people find ATIA). 8. Elections Hellen Martinez stepped down as President and she will serve as Past President for one year. She thanked many members who have provided her with advice and support over her time as President. A card and gift certificate were presented to Hellen as a token of appreciation for her many years of service to ATIA. Election of members to fill positions was held and the following positions were filled/stayed vacant: President Secretary Treasurer Vacant. No nominations were received. Patricia McGrory was nominated by Hellen Martinez. Nomination was seconded by Perla Ben Zvi. No other nominations. Elected by acclamation. She will also chair the Professional Development committee Kathryn Watson was nominated by Patricia McGrory. Nomination was seconded by Allettie Bastiaansen. No other nominations. Elected by acclamation. Raj Sandal appointed to represent Court Interpreters Carmen Aguilera appointed for the Public Relations Committee (Calgary) Sandeep Kang was appointed for the Public Relations Committee (Edmonton) Regina Landeck was appointed to the Professional Development Committee Roula Salam was appointed to the Professional Development Committee It would be nice to have some members in charge of organizing social events in Edmonton (three events/year) 9. Appointment of Auditors for Russell Gillis and Gilles Mossière have been appointed auditors for the fiscal year. 10. Appointment of members of Discipline Committee Council will recruit and appoint members of the Discipline Committee (DC). Patricia McGrory moved to appoint DC members at a later Council meeting. Hellen Martinez seconded the motion. All in favour. 11. Date and Place of Next Meeting The next AGM will be held on October 21, 2017 in Calgary. 12. Termination

5 Patricia McGrory moved to terminate the meeting at 4:51 pm. Perla Ben Zvi seconded the motion. Hellen Martinez, President Recording Secretary: Patricia McGrory, Secretary