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ACI Accreditation Period Increased from Two to Five Years

Last month, the OCCI Board of Directors voted unanimously to extend the accreditation period from two (2) to five (5) years.  This change was made in response to feedback received from ACIs about the financial challenges of fulfilling the on-going education (PDU) requirements in order to maintain/renew ACI status.

After careful consideration of the fiscal impact on OCCI, the Board decided that it is in the best interest of the community interpreting sector to support interpreters to be able to invest more in their on-going education and professional development.

In other words, the money ACIs save on renewal fees can now be directed to workshop, course, and educational event fees. 

The ACI status cycle runs from the date of accreditation/renewal in Year 1 to December 31 of Year 5.  The following illustrates the ACI status periods for the first four years:

• ACI awarded between July 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015: expires December 31, 2020
• ACI awarded between Jan 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016:  expires December 31, 2021
• ACI awarded between Jan 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017:  expires December 31, 2022
• ACI awarded between Jan 1, 2018 and December 31, 2018:  expires December 31, 2023

Options and Expectations for Fulfilling Annual PD requirements

In order to qualify for renewal, ACIs must fufill ten (10) hours of OCCI-recognized Professional Development each year.

ACIs can fulfill their PD requirements by attending events, workshops, and courses focused on interpreting skills and knowledge.  The recognized workshops and events are listed on the OCCI PD & Events page.

NEW:  Up to four (4) hours of the annual PD requirement may be fulfilled through (1) business practice skill development, (2) practice-related self-care and personal development, or (3) contributions to advancing the professionalization of our industry, such as mentoring new interpreters, authoring or co-authoring articles relevant to the advancement of community interpreting, presenting/speaking at events about community interpreting, or volunteering on boards/committees related to language access and/or community interpreting .  Requests for PD recognition in these categories will be evaluated on an individual basis, and may require additional review time – please allow for extra review time for these renewal applications.

OCCI expects ACIs to commit to fulfilling ten (10) hours of PD each calendar year.  However, we do recognize that this may not always be possible so we will allow for up to five (5) hours to be carried over to a subsequent year.

A word to the wise:  do not let carry-over hours pile up!  You may suddenly find yourself having to complete 25 hours in the last few months before your status expires

"Courses translate to jobs in multicultural Toronto"

On March 15th, the Toronto Star featured college and university training options for language professional as they looked at how "Interpreters can help the influx of newcomers get settled into their new lives".  Read the article here.

Upcoming Interpreter Workshops, PD Events, LITP Info Sessions

(for full details and links to register, go the PD & Events page)

Sight-Translation Skills of Legal Documents (English-Chinese)

Offered by CITG Certificate Interpreters and Translators Ltd.

4 upcoming dates in 2018: May 12, Jul. 21, Oct. 6, Dec. 15

North York, Ontario

Note-taking in Consecutive Interpreting (English-Chinese)

Offered by CITG Certificate Interpreters and Translators Ltd.

3 upcoming dates in 2018:  Apr. 14, Aug. 11, Oct. 27

North York, Ontario

Connecting Legal Services to Interpretation

Offered by ONLIS

On-line course

Translator Training Program

Offered by MCIS

4 upcoming start dates in 2018:  Apr. 10, Apr. 17, Jul. 3, Sep. 25

On-line or in-class in North York, Ontario

Community Interpreter International

Offered by Cross-Cultural Communications

3 upcoming start dates in 2018:  Apr. 13, Jul. 23, Oct. 5

Columbia, Maryland, USA

It Breaks My Heart - Interpreting for Trauma

Offered by Cross-Cultural Communications

November 8-9, 2018

Columbia, Maryland, USA

LITP Info Session - HUMBER COLLEGE

April 23, 2018 6:00 p.m.

Toronto, Ontario (near Bathurst subway station)

The OCCI lists events related to community interpreting and

events that have been recognized as eligible for ACI Professional Development hours.

For the full listing of upcoming and past events see the Events & PD page. 

Join the OCCI Facebook page

The list of OCCI Accredited Community Interpreters continues to grow

To see the list of ACIs and the range of languages represented, click here, or follow the link at the top of every page at occi.ca.

The OCCI would like the acknowledge the generous support of our Gold and Silver sponsors.

For a full list of current sponsors and links to their websites, please see our home page.

Please send us your

questions, comments, feedback, and suggestions. 

The OCCI is committed to broad stakeholder engagement

and we want to hear from you.

Are there any questions that we have not addressed in the FAQs page?

What would you like to read about in the OCCI News?

Do you have any other feedback?

Please contact us at info@occi.ca

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