Members of Parliament – Acceptable and Unacceptable Translation Requests

The Translation Bureau provides translation services to Members of Parliament in accordance with the following rules, established by the Board of Internal Economy in the Members' Allowances and Services manual.

Access to translation services begins on the day that notice of the Member's election is published by the Chief Electoral Officer in the Canada Gazette and ends 10 calendar days after Parliament is dissolved or the Member ceases to be a Member.

MPs may obtain translations into English or French of the following types of document:

  • up to four (4) householders per year, whether or not they are mailed to constituents;
  • sections of speeches to be delivered in the House of Commons in the Member's second official language (approx. 1,000 words);
  • letters to constituents;
  • Members' working documents required to perform their duties as legislators;
  • material produced by their party's Research Office;
  • the home page and navigational links for the Member's Web site, as well as a biographical sketch of the Member used on the Web site;
  • Season's Greetings messages.

The following types of document will not be translated:

  • documents for a Member's personal use;
  • press clippings and magazine articles, with the exception of brief excerpts;
  • parliamentary publications available from the House Administration's Distribution and Internal Mail Services, government departments and agencies or commercial sources;
  • publications protected by copyright, without written approval from the author or publisher;
  • requests that must be referred to another House Administration service (drafts of bills, motions, questions, etc.);
  • texts that conflict with or duplicate the rules of the House of Commons or its committees;
  • documents requiring translation into languages other than English or French, with the exception of letters exchanged with constituents;
  • requests submitted later than 10 days following the dissolution of Parliament or 10 days after the Member ceases to be a Member.

Please contact the Parliamentary Services and Interpretation for more information about the Parliamentary Documents translation services or to request our services.

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