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September 2011
learn more ➧ GET THE Job
Cashier Training & CusTomer serviCe - $275.00 Duration 18 hours. Become confident with operating a cash register & learn customer service, policies, procedures and laws that pertain to working in this field. next classes august 29th to 31st or september 12th to 14th from 9am to 3:30pm For more information or to register for a course please call 604-597-3448.
202 – 7380 – 137th street, surrey, BC | www.dcrs.ca SIMPLY ACCOUNTING LEVEL 1 & 2 Duration: 30 hours per level. Fee: $380 per level or $700 when registering for both levels at the same time. Textbook and Training Software for practiceat home are provided for FREE. After completing level 1 & 2 with us, students receive a course completion certificate, and will also beeligible to write the Certificate in Simply Accounting for FREE. The official Certificate in Simply Accounting will be issued by Sage Software, who developed Simply Accounting. Next Class Starts: Sep 24 for 5 Saturday sessions For more information or to register for a course please call 604-597-3448.
202 – 7380 – 137th Street, Surrey, BC | www.dcrs.ca
ITTI
Immigrant Trades Training Initiativ Initiative Assisting immigrants towards their trade certification in B.C.
Find your Trade Route to a Better Future
Are you: • Permanent Resident of Canada? • Unemployed and ineligible for Employment Insurance? • Currently employed but lacking • Local credentials, or • Full-time hours, or • Essential skills? If your answer is “YES” to any one of these questions, this project might be for you!
Contact: Bruce Ratcliffe Email: bruce.ratcliffe@success.bc.ca Cell: 604.218.5162 Office: 604.517.0884 Fax: 604.517.517.1918 Website: www.success.bc.ca/itti
Funding provided by the Industry Training Authority, through the Labour Market Agreement between the Governments of British Columbia and Canada
Paralegals: May soon take on new tasks from Getting, 3
legal documents, handling correspondence, drafting minutes and reports and doing research. They may also handle simple legal procedures such as files for small claims court, property disputes and disability appeals. And, thanks to recent plans by the LSBC to revisit talks on expanding their roles, paralegals in this province may soon be in greater demand than ever before. “The implementation of such talks may result in a dramatic growth of paralegal practice in B.C.,” confirms Cyril Okoye, president and consultant criminologist at Metropolitan Community College. He quotes the summer issue of LSBC’s Bencher’s Bulletin, which reported that “the law society has a vision that would see paralegals taking on a broader range of legal tasks than are currently permitted. It is exciting, new ground that will be good for … paralegals.” To become a paralegal, a post-secondary education either to a diploma or degree level is essential. While some institutions require previous work experience as a prerequisite for admission to a paralegal program, Okoye says that isn’t the case at Metropolitan “because of its 24-week, paid co-op/internship program, which provides students with work experience before graduation.” Bohdan Bilan, vicepresident of academics for Vancouver Career College, agrees that hands-on training within the Canadian legal system is a key to success. “Our students not only receive their paralegal diploma, but also graduate with Internet and core computing certification and a five-week practicum on their resumé,” he says. “From here, graduates can apply for paralegal positions in the employment field.” Legal administrative assistants, on the other hand, look after various secretarial duties in a legal office like filing and keeping track of the significant amount of paperwork that’s typically gener-
ated by a busy law firm. Vancouver Career College offers a legal administrative assistant diploma that focuses on developing computer application and software skills specific to the legal industry. “Students take courses in civic litigation, family, real estate, corporate, commercial and wills and estates law,” says Bilan. “All of this training, along with a handson, five-week practicum, prepares graduates for their role in maintaining an organized workflow in a legal office.” He adds that the current job market for the Canadian legal sector is “looking up for qualified paralegals and legal administrative assistants.” “Since their work provides support for lawyers and other legal staff, they are valuable assets to well-organized, fastpaced legal work environments,” he explains. “Depending on the diversity of practice, law firms often attract a number of practitioners whose services are complementary to the daily law practice,” Okoye adds. “These include forensic accountants, certified fraud investigators and immigration consultants.” On the immigration front, newcomers to Canada are often in need of legal professionals to help them resolve immigration matters. As such, court interpreters are currently in high demand. “There are many work assignments in the courts but there is a big lack of qualified court interpreters,” confirms Tisha Nixon, director of interpretation and translation services for Aquinas Institute Corp., which specializes in court-judicial-legal interpreting services. A legal interpreter, according to Nixon, is a professional who “conveys in the first person exactly what a speaker says in one language in a different foreign language to another person or people. Generally, the statements are related to legal topics, matters or cases.” As such, legal interpreting requires proficiency in the source language and the tar-
get language as well as a good knowledge of legal terminology. This requires professional training. “B.C. courts require that we send only experienced or trained court interpreters to court trials,” she stresses. “As an interpretation service company, [our] challenge … is recruiting qualified interpreters and how to make those with no experience realize that court interpreter training is necessary.” To be considered an accredited interpreter by the Ministry of Attorney General’s Court Services Branch, you must have one of the following: • a court interpreting cert i f ic ate f rom Va ncouver Community College; • certification as a court interpreter by the Society of Translators and Interpreters of BC (STIBC); or • certification as a court interpreter from a society belonging to the Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council. Aquinas also offers a court-judicial-legal interpreter training seminar to help new, inexperienced interpreters launch their careers by learning more about basic court interpreting duties, ethics, the Canadian court system and legal terminology, and provides practical interpreting exercises, as well. Though only the STIBC can designate a certified court interpreter and only the Ministry of Attorney General can designate an accredited court interpreter, Aquinas’ seminar provides an excellent professional development opportunity to any interpreter or translator. “A UBC student took the seminar … and within three months she sent an email stating that the seminar came in handy as she has been doing a lot of interpreting, especially court interpreting,” says Nixon. “Other seminar attendees are now working in the government sector and with other agencies or have their own interpreting businesses.” • nglouberman@biv.com
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LEARN MORE ➧ GET THE JOB Publisher Cheryl Carter Editor Noa Glouberman
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