Canada Gov’t Comments
9 09 2010Folks..
Check this out.
Quotable Quotes:
"Sorenson has invested in 8 VRS call centers in Canada which employ over 300 people."
"It is Canada’s view that Chapter 12 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) obliges the Government of the United States to treat Canadian-based service providers, including those providing interpretation services through a VRS call center, no less favourably than United States-based service providers."
I remembered a few comments from deaf/hoh Canadians who were glad that the FCC disallowed centers in foreign countries citing that they had problem finding qualified interpreters in their homeland.
So makes me wonder how the deaf/hoh Canadians feel about this Canada government’s comments?
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed Bosson
Long Link: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020911395
HI Ed –
I didnt see any information in the filing which identified the part of the Canadian Government which made this determination and issued the comments. I have inquired the FCC about who in the Canadian Government is involved here.
T’care.
-Jeff Rosen
What is the funding source for the Canadian Call Centers? I certainly hope it’s not the telephone companies in the US which, of course, gets passed on to the consumers.
::: applause ::: for the red maple leaf!
Larry, the centers only handle USA VRS calls. No Canadian calls. So you want us Canucks to pay for it?
They are funded just like all the other SVRS centers.
One exception is the one that is being used for the trial that is going on for Canadian VRS now – that is funded by a contract between SVRS and Telus (the phone company for BC and Alberta).
Deafies here have a VERY difficult time getting the Canadian government to pay attention to anything we say so this particular Deafie is pissed off – but not surprised – that the Canadian government is doing what SVRS is telling them. But then like just about all governments, they pay attention when companies with money make demands and ignore anything coming from ordinary citizens. And, Jeff, yeah please pass on just who in the government is involved if you ever find out.
But Canadians do not commit fraud n VRS. That’s a stereotype. Glad they stood up for themselves.
One more thing you USAers might wish to consider – centers are being closed in the USA and interpreters and others are losing their jobs. What about the 8 SVRS centres (diffent spelling of that here in Canada!) in Canada? They being closed? Jobs being lost? Or is it only the USA people who are suffering? And, sorry, I have no knowledge of what goes on at the Canadian SVRS centres.
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Canadian Centers will always be a little bit cheaper to run because the staff does not need the company to buy health insurance. It’s a pretty expensive thing to buy, even though the part time interpreters don’t get it. Fulltime interpreters do, as well as administrative staff. Any company’s percentage of that, however small, is expensive. They may not have video relay service, but my understanding is that the companies don’t have to buy the insurance policies. It’s not like the system in the United States. Dental is different, but dental is much cheaper.
Terpgirl — Dunno where you got your info about health insurance up here… no doubt from those cluckheads who think “Obamacare” means “death panels”. Most provinces charge large businesses a health premium which is quite modest. Most businesses sign up with a standard health insurance company such as Sun Life or Great-West Life which provides extensive coverage for a very moderate monthly premium. Any employee can opt out.
Reminds me of the movie “There Will Be Blood” where a oilman built a pipeline to suck out oil on another land that had oil not being drilled for … So is the Canada Gov’t sucking out US Dollars for Soreson? The Octopus (SVRS/Sorenson strikes again!?
I have experience with both the USA and Canadian health care systems. It is definitely cheaper up here in Canada – for everyone including the individual, the business, the government. But that is only one of the costs of doing business and overall I suspect there is not really a great difference in the cost.
The FCC, assisted by the FBI, collected fraud-related evidences by interviewing and investigating the whistleblowers who were interpreters.
Since it would be illegal for the FCC and the FBI to cross the international borders to interview Canadians, how can I be convinced that there were no Canadian fraud minutes?
Does the FCC or the FBI have the jurisdiction to rely on electronic video systems to monitor the quality and ethical calls across the international borders?
What about emergency VRS calls? Liabilities?
In closing, there are many questions that need to be addressed before crossing the international borders.
A few things to consider:
1) Having a Center in Canada is good for USA because if (knock on wood) America has crisis that affects SVRS the ability to provide VRS services, they have Canada SVRS to back up.
2) I want my deaf peers in Canada to have access to VRS just as we have access to VRS. I think its great that SVRS is trying to get that.
3) USA gov’t is only paying for USA calls only.
4) There are many business that do business both national and international level. Why should this be treated any different? Look at many companies that do that now. Even our Government does business with other countries all the time. Go ask Obama!
I think its silly to beat up SVRS. The Deaf canadians deserve to have the same privileges of having VRS as we do. Kudos to SVRS for attempting this. It is not easy to do international business.
Furthermore, when are we as deaf americans going to stop putting down VRS agencies for trying to provide business. In my eyes, no one VRS is better than the other. It all goes to a personal choice.. YOURS! Like automobiles, some like trucks, some like cars, some like SUV, some like motorcycles. Like food, some like American, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, German, so forth… Each and every VRS business provide wonderful and unique services. Rather than pile on each other about which VRS is better, I think we need to keep an eye on FCC and make sure they are supporting VRS business.
Did any of you pay attention to one of the comments that FCC made to SVRS about the speed of answers? That bothered me alot. FCC feels that the speed of answers is determined by the VRS companies. I think the speed of answers is determined by us, the deaf people. Do we want to wait 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes to make a call while our hearing folks get their phones ringing right after they finished dialing the numbers.
I think FCC is trying to control us deafies, not the VRS trying to control FCC. We deafies have to stick together.. remember: “United we stand, divided we fall”. That is just my humble opinion.
Ms. Warbler,
Clarification and history of Average Speed Answer. It is really a catch-22 situation. For sake of keeping it to layman’s level, I will focus only on two issues which contributed to ASA.
One is the speed of VRS user’s Internet Service Provider. Obviously, the FCC or VRS providers do not have control over that. It is reason why the FCC chose to have a phase-in procedure; starting with 3 min down to current 120 seconds simply because VRS providers and the FCC do not have control over VRS User’s Internet provider. Keep in mind, not all Internet providers have same broadband speeds.
However, over time the speed of high speed Internet have improved where fast response is now possible. Looks like the average is now between 30 seconds up to 60 seconds. Keep in mind, though, that those who live in rural areas still do not have ideal high speed broadband to make ASA ideal.
The second issue is even more problematic. To keep ASA very low requires staffing more VRS CA (otherwise also known as video interpreters), so if the FCC lowers ASA down more to 15 seconds would mean VRS providers will have hire more VRSCAs, and the result can jack up reimbursable VRS rates even more. Also, it could cause even more depleting of community interpreters. So by keeping it at 120 seconds as currently is helps VRS industry hire sufficient VRSCA to meet this need. However, I think you or VRS users have now great ASA on the average.
See what I mean about catch-22 situation.
eyes open & thumbs up,
Ed
Everything is a catch 22 with video relay. You are right. If you hire enough people to answer the phone as soon as it rings, it gets very, very expensive to run your company. It’s good customer service, but it’s bad. Video relay is like a Bizarro World, for those of you who are familiar with Superman. Everything is the opposite of what it is. Skilled interpreters with a wide variety of experience have lots of options and are therefore more expensive than new interpreters who’ve never done anything in the professional community before. So it’s better to hire the new people. New interpreters ask you to repeat several times, thus running minutes (legitimately) which brings in more revenue. If you want to have a good video relay service, a REALLY good one, you have to sacrifice profit. However, if you want to have a lousy one, you will have a better chance to make a profit. It is the opposite of other businesses. Welcome to Bizarro World!
I don’t see any reason for anti-Canadian sentiment. If you don’t like them, watch the South Park movie and get it out of your system. I hope they get video relay someday, and if I thought they were the kind of people to commit fraud, I wouldn’t say that. No, I can’t absolutely prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that no Canadian has ever committed fraud, but you can’t prove the null hypothesis.