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MCIS Language Solutions

April 2020 Newsletter

Keeping Up with COVID-19 Updates

In an effort to help as many Canadian communities as possible to access the latest information about COVID-19, and to keep our customers and language professionals updated on how MCIS is evolving during the ongoing pandemic, MCIS has gathered multilingual resources related to the pandemic and centralized them on our website at https://www.mcislanguages.com/covid-19-response/.

The resources, incorporated from credible resources shared by our external partners, exist in 50+ languages and include statistics, benefits, disease prevention and government responses, with a primarily Canadian focus.

We are also in the process of translating the resource pages into their respective languages, and developing multilingual audio/visual content that will be added to the pages. These pages are being updated on a daily basis. We encourage everyone to share the resources widely to anyone who may find them useful.

MCIS COVID-19 Response Page

Remote Interpretation Services

In an effort to #FlattenTheCurve and reduce the risk to our customers, language professionals and local communities, MCIS temporarily suspended in-person interpretation services at the end of March, and began assisting our customers to convert any existing in-person appointments to phone or video. Currently, in-person interpretation services are suspended until June 30.

For customers who have booked in-person services for between now and June 30, we encourage them to call us at 1-888-990-9014 or email is@mcis.on.ca to discuss alternatives.

Remote interpretation services can be achieved via telephone or video conferencing. Our interpreters are happy to join any video platform used by our customers. MCIS can also arrange a video conference via our HIPAA-compliant and secure Zoom platform.

For more information, see the "Removing Language Barriers..." blog post below.

Free Language Services

In addition, we have created a fund to support organizations that are working hard to support these communities, and that are not able to afford the cost of translating COVID-19 related material. If you need COVID-19 related interpretation services or information translated and cannot afford it, please click the links to access the application forms for free/subsidized services.

Working from Home

In support of recent federal and provincial public health guidelines, and to help limit the spread of COVID-19, MCIS staff have started #WorkingFromHome. To keep motivated and to maintain a positive work environment, we launched the #OurEffortMCIS campaign, encouraging everyone to share their experiences working from home. See what our staff has shared in the "MCIS staff share..." blog post below.

For a summary of MCIS' initiatives to adapt to the ongoing pandemic and how MCIS has transitioned to providing services remotely, see the blog post:
Removing Language Barriers, A Little “Byte” at A Time

Additional articles:

See how the world is doing:
Language Access and COVID-19 Information – How’s the World Doing?
#OurEffortMCIS
MCIS staff share their working from home experiences
Our COVID-19 glossary:
A Coronavirus Glossary