VCH Translation and Interpretation Engagement

Engagement Report

We are very pleased to share with you the Translation and interpretation engagement summary report and the Translation Framework. A big thanks to everyone who contributed to this project.

The engagement included 14 focus groups, 13 one-on-one interviews, and a general population survey (800 responses). The key findings of this engagement have already helped in the standardization of translation practices across VCH and the development of the VCH Interpretation and Translation Framework. Informed by the findings from the engagement project, VCH has initiated a one-year pilot project and established an internal centralized translation capacity.

Project Background

VCH delivers health services to about 1.25 million people - nearly a quarter of B.C's population. The geographic area covered by VCH includes 12 municipalities and four regional districts in the Coastal Mountain communities, Vancouver, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, and Richmond. We recognize that our place of work and VCH facilities lie on the traditional homelands of the 14 First Nations communities. There are also three Métis Chartered communities within our region.

The 2016 Census provides data on more than 140 immigrant languages. We know that around 1 in 3 (30%) of BC residents had a mother tongue other than English or French. The top five languages spoken at home in Vancouver are Cantonese (191,940), Mandarin (190,465), Punjabi (170,375), Tagalog (81,105) and Korean (47,265). Provincial Language Service, the provincial organization that provides interpreting for medical appointments also shows that the top five languages requested in the VCH areas of service in 2020 were Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Vietnamese and Spanish.

We understand that language barriers can have an impact on access to timely and appropriate care, so Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) initiated the review of translation practices with the goal of supporting culturally safe care and improving access to health information. With this engagement project, we want to learn how to reduce language barriers and how to facilitate better understanding of written materials.