Hello!
Happy Spring! CAV has news to share about Canada’s Video Relay Service (VRS).
Last February, we reported CAV had issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) to select Video Interpreter Providers (VIPs). That process is finished and CAV is pleased to announce the three companies who will deliver the services of “SRV Canada VRS”.
The VIP who has been selected as the primary provider of ASL calls is Convo. Convo is a Deaf-owned company from the US who has deep experience with VRS.
Sign Language Interpreting Associates Ottawa, Inc. (SLIAO) has also been selected to provide additional ASL VIP services. SLIAO is a community-based interpreting company that has been providing professional interpreting services in Canada for almost 20 years and, more recently, video remote interpreting services.
Service d’interprétation visuelle et tactile (Sivet) is the company who has been selected to handle the majority of LSQ calls. Sivet is a Deaf-led, Montreal based non-profit company who has been providing community based LSQ interpreting services for about 25 years.
Convo will also be working with CAV to develop operating standards and will be responsible for training the other two VIPs to ensure consistent quality and delivery of the video relay service.
Now that the VIPs are selected, we will begin building call centres and integrating the video technology platform hardware and software.
At the same time, CAV is testing the apps that you will use when VRS is launched this fall on your PC, Mac, iOS and Android Devices.
There is still a lot to do, but we are making excellent progress towards making “SRV Canada VRS” a reality.
To keep up to date with information, go the website at www.cav-acs.ca and register for CAV updates.
Thank you,
Sue Decker
Executive Director, CAV-ACS