CANADIAN ADMINISTRATOR OF
VRS
Nov.
21, 2014
To: Interested Parties
Subject: Canadian
Administrator of VRS – Call for Stakeholders
Dear
Sir or Madame,
This letter is being
sent to you by the Interim Board of Directors of the Canadian Administrator of
VRS (CAV) Inc., a new organization that is currently being established to
oversee the delivery of video relay service (VRS) in Canada. We would like to provide you with information
about this new organization and to inquire whether your group may be interested
in becoming a Stakeholder of the CAV in order to participate in the selection
process to determine the individuals associated with the CAV's permanent Board
of Directors. There is no fee for being
a Stakeholder. If your group is
interested in becoming a Stakeholder, we invite you to contact us to express
your interest at the contact information below.
We are currently
preparing videos of this letter in American Sign Language (ASL) and Langue des
signes québécois (LSQ). These videos
will be distributed once available.
The Canadian
Administrator of VRS: Bringing VRS to
Canadians
The CAV is a
not-for-profit organization that the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) recently determined would be established to
oversee the delivery of VRS in Canada. The
CAV will engage independent VRS service providers to deliver services to Canadians
across the country in both ASL and LSQ, and ensure that VRS is provided in
accordance with CRTC requirements. The
CRTC has provided that VRS in Canada will receive funding of up to $30 million
each year, to be paid by contributions from telecommunications service
providers (TSPs).
A number of steps
need to take place before the CAV can launch VRS in Canada:
1)
Determine the Corporate Structure of the CAV: The first step toward launching VRS involves
determining the corporate structure of the CAV. The Interim Board of Directors has designed a
proposal for the corporate structure of the CAV that is currently being
considered by the CRTC. We expect that
the CRTC will issue a decision on the proposal in the near future. Once the corporate structure of the CAV has
been approved, further steps can be taken to set up the CAV.
2)
Establish a permanent Board of Directors for the
CAV: Once the corporate structure of the CAV has
been determined, the Interim Board of Directors will run processes to select
individuals associated with the CAV's permanent Board of Directors (see the
section below, Selecting the Permanent
Board of Directors: The Role of Stakeholders).
3)
Set up VRS: The permanent Board of Directors of the CAV
will then take steps to contract with independent VRS service provider(s) to
provide VRS in both ASL and LSQ across the country.
It is the goal of the
Interim Board of Directors to establish the permanent Board of Directors as
soon as possible after the CRTC issues its decision with respect to the
corporate structure of the CAV. Once the
permanent Board of Directors is in place, a number of months will be needed before
VRS can become operational.
Selecting
the Permanent Board of Directors: The
Role of Stakeholders
The permanent Board
of Directors of the CAV will be structured to benefit from perspectives of the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) community, sign language interpreters, TSPs and
the Canadian public.
Stakeholders will
play an important role in selecting the individuals who will bring these
perspectives to the CAV Board of Directors. Groups that register with the CAV as Stakeholders
will be entitled to nominate and vote for candidates to serve in roles that align
with their interests. For example, the
Board of Directors will include individuals who provide perspectives from the
DHH community. These individuals will be
selected by Stakeholders groups that represent the interests of DHH users. These groups will register as DHH Stakeholders
of the CAV, and as DHH Stakeholders, they will be eligible to nominate and vote
for candidates who will sit on the Board of Directors to provide the
perspective of DHH users.
Similarly, individuals
who will bring the perspectives of TSPs and sign language interpreters to the
Board of Directors will be selected by telecommunications companies and
interpreter groups, respectively. TSPs
will register as TSP Stakeholders of the CAV to participate in the election of individuals
who will bring TSP perspectives to the Board of Directors, and sign language
interpreter groups will register as Interpreter Stakeholders of the CAV to
participate in the appointment of individuals who will bring the perspectives
of sign language interpreters to the Board of Directors.
In order to register
as a DHH Stakeholder, a TSP Stakeholder, or an Interpreter Stakeholder, DHH
groups, TSPs and sign language interpreter groups will need to meet specific
eligibility criteria. These criteria are
still being considered by the CRTC and have not yet been finalized.
The
Process for Becoming a Stakeholder of CAV
If your group
represents the interests of DHH users, sign language interpreters, or is a TSP,
and is interested in becoming a Stakeholder of the CAV, we would invite you to
let us know by sending a short message to info@cav-acs.ca.
In your message,
please indicate the following information:
-
The name of your group;
-
The name and contact information (phone
number/email) of the appropriate person at your group for us to contact; and
-
Identify which type of Stakeholder your group
would like to register as, whether as a:
·
DHH Stakeholder;
·
TSP Stakeholder; or
·
Interpreter Stakeholder.
Once the corporate structure
of the CAV is approved by the CRTC (as discussed above), we will formally
register Stakeholders to participate in the election of individuals to be
associated with the permanent Board of Directors. By expressing your interest now, we will
automatically send your group a Stakeholder Registration Form to complete once
the registration period begins.
Please feel free to share
this letter with other groups that you believe may be interested in becoming a
Stakeholder of the CAV.
If you have any
questions or comments, please feel free to send them to "info@cav-acs.ca"
We hope you will
consider becoming a Stakeholder of the CAV and we look forward to hearing from
you.
Yours
truly,
|
[ Original signed
by F. Folino ]
|
[ Original signed
by J. Daniels ]
|
[ Original signed
by G. Birch ]
|
|
Frank Folino, BA
(Hons.)
Director,
Interim Board
CAV
|
Jonathan Daniels
Director,
Interim Board
CAV
|
Gary
Birch, O.C., Ph.D., P.Eng
Director,
Interim Board
CAV
|
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