Translations/Traductions

In 2012, literary translation in Canada continued to sail against strong counter winds in a sombre seascape marked by more closures of Canadian presses, draconian cuts to Library and Archives Canada, and changes in Canadian copyright legislation that aggravate the increasingly fragile economic situation of Canadian literary translators. The year started with the dismal announcement that McClelland & Stewart, one of Canada’s foremost contributors since the 1960s to French-English translation, would be reduced to an imprint of a foreign-owned multinational, putting the editorial program under full foreign control. From the late 1950s to 1986, under the leadership of Jack McClelland, McClelland & Stewart played a pioneering role in encouraging Canadian anglophone-francophone literary exchange. Many Québécois classics, such as Philippe Panneton’s Thirty Acres, Gabrielle Roy’s The Tin Flute, and Hubert Aquin’s Next Episode, were included in its New Canadian Library, the first paperback series dedicated solely to Canadian literature. This pro-translation approach continued under Canadian cultural advocate Avie Bennett until 2000, when part of the company was sold to Random House Canada. In recent years, McClel-land & Stewart has been less and less present in literary translation. This latest change in status is the last step in the disappearance of a valued and lengthy tradition of Canadian literary translation exchange.

In April 2012, Library and Archives Canada abruptly put an end to the National Archival Development Program and imposed substantial budget and staff cuts to its professional programs. The impact of these cuts on literary translation exchange will be severe. The moratorium on purchase of archival holdings comes at a time when many senior Canadian literary translators are retiring, and this means that the wealth of archival material (translation manuscripts, correspondence with authors and publishers) they have accumulated over their long careers may well not be preserved for consultation by readers, researchers, and the new generation of literary translators. The planned elimination of interlibrary loans and reduced online access to Library and Archives Canada holdings will make numerous translations no longer in print virtually inaccessible to Canadian readers outside Ottawa. The abolition of the National Archival Development Program, which served to support archival enterprise across Canada; the withdrawal of almost all funding from the Canadian Council on Archives; and the elimination of a third of archivist positions dealing with non-governmental records put at risk many contributions (arrangement and description of records, professional conservation and preservation advice, offered outreach and archival education opportunities) to cultural knowledge. Like the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Library was established following the recommendations in the 1951 report of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences, known as the Massey Commission. The Massey Commission fully acknowledged the fundamental role of literary translation in bringing Canadian anglophones and francophones together, and it played a crucial role in establishing the key cultural institutions needed to promote vibrant artistic and cultural communities in Canada. These cuts to Library Archives Canada attack the very foundations of Canada’s literary and cultural heritage.

In June 2012, Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, received royal assent, marking the introduction of wide-reaching changes to federal copyright legislation. While the Association of Canadian Publishers expressed support for the reforms on the basis of greater economic competitiveness, it has also recognized the need to provide writers and translators fair compensation for their work. Numerous amendments were proposed to this effect, but all were rejected. Translators, like authors, will now see their rights to financial compensation for digital distribution and reproduction of their work eroded, which can only aggravate their already precarious financial situation. Ensuring literary translators full recognition and copyright for their work has been a long battle in Canada. It was only in the 1985 Canadian Copyright Act, after ten years of intense efforts on the part of the Literary Translator’s Association of Canada, that translations were explicitly included as literary works in the law and translators given copyright. Very few Canadian translators can earn a living only from translating. Collective licencing provided them with a small return on photocopying of their translations for the...