MCIS COVID-19 Response

A personal message from Latha Sukumar, Executive Director

March 25, 2020. Dear Friends, I hope you are doing well. We live in confusing times. The reason for this email is to reassure you that MCIS is doing everything to ensure the safety of our staff and language professionals, but also of the community as a whole...

woman typing on laptop computer and media app icons flying. There is a warm glow on fingers.

Updates on the Language Professional Page

Dear Interpreters,

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country, MCIS is closely monitoring the situation and actively holding discussions with our service providers regarding safety measures to...

Info for Customers

Info for Language Professionals

Recent Updates:

2020-09-26: Government of Canada launches recovery benefits as CERB comes to an end.
2020-07-01: MCIS has resumed the provision of in-person interpretation services as of July 1, 2020.
2020-04-23: MCIS extends suspension of in-person interpretation services to June 30, 2020.
2020-04-15: Government of Canada announces CERB benefit for those who earn $1,000 or less for 14 or more consecutive days within the four-week period of the claim.
2020-03-27: Government of Canada announces measures to support self-employed contractors affected by COVID-19.
2020-03-25: MCIS suspends in-person interpretation services from March 30 to April 30, 2020.
2020-03-25: Government of Canada mandates an immediate 14-day isolation quarantine for all Canadians returning to Canada as of 11:59 p.m. on March 25.
2020-03-23: City of Toronto declares a state of emergency
2020-03-23: Ontario orders non-essential workplaces to close.
2020-03-20: Manitoba declares state of emergency in response to COVID-19.
2020-03-18: Canada advises against all non-essential travel outside of Canada until further notice.
2020-03-17: Ontario and Alberta declare states of emergency in response to COVID-19.
2020-03-17: Canada closes border to non-citizens and non-PRs.
2020-03-11: WHO declares COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Free/subsidized interpretation and translation services

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting lives across Canada and around the world. It is now more important than ever that non-English speaking communities have access to critical information about COVID-19 so they can keep themselves safe and healthy, so that everyone can work together to beat this pandemic. At MCIS, we do not want cost to be a barrier preventing people from having access to critical information in their language.For this reason, we have created a fund to assist organizations that are working hard to support these communities. We are offering a free interpretation phone line for COVID-19 related conversations and making it available to eligible SPs and partners. In addition, we are offering free and subsidized translation services for COVID-19 related materials. If you need either of these services and cannot afford the regular cost, please use the buttons below to access the application forms.

Free Interpretation

Free/subsidized Translation

#OurEffortMCIS

We asked our staff and language professionals to share multilingual video messages, consisting of working from home tips, wellness tips or messages of gratitude towards front line workers during COVID-19. Here are their messages:

Community COVID 19 Update - MP Arif Virani

#OurEffortMCIS - Message of gratitude from Nazanin, in Farsi and English

#OurEffortMCIS - Message of gratitude from Shuxi, in Mandarin and English

#OurEffortMCIS - Working from home tip from Jack, in Mandarin and English

#OurEffortMCIS - Wellness tip from Desiree, in Spanish and English

#OurEffortMCIS - Wellness tip from Katie, in Mandarin and English

As concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak continue to rise, we would like to assure everyone that the health and safety of our clients, employees and freelance professionals is of utmost concern to MCIS. We are working equally hard to also ensure service continuity while keeping our interpreters safe and contributing to the collective effort to #FlattenTheCurve. In response to feedback from customers and information available from public health authorities, MCIS is extending the suspension of in-person interpretation services from May 1 to June 30, 2020. Exceptions will only be made for critical cases.

All our other services are available, including immediate and scheduled telephone interpretation, as well as HIPAA-compliant, secure scheduled video interpretation. We encourage our customers to explore these as alternative options to replace face-to-face appointments.

We are monitoring all information provided by public health authorities and following official guidelines to minimize risks to all parties, including our customers, freelancers and staff. As the situation is rapidly changing, we are adapting as promptly as possible, so please monitor this page often for the latest updates.

We thank you for your continued to support in ensuring that we work together to ensure the safety of our customers, interpreters and staff.

And as part of our contribution to the COVID-19 situation, MCIS has collected multilingual resources on COVID-19 in a wide range of languages. Some of the materials were translated by us, others were kindly shared by our customers and partners. If you or someone you know needs access to COVID-19 information in other languages, please refer to the list of languages on this page. We encourage you to share them widely.

In addition, we have created responses specific to our customers and our language professionals. Please refer to the buttons on this page for this information.