The Board of Directors is in charge of the general supervision of the Order and the management and supervision of the conduct of its affairs. It is responsible for carrying out the decisions of the Order and those of the general meeting and for ensuring the related follow-up. The Board also sees to the application of the provisions of the Professional Code and the regulations made under the Code. It exercises all of the Order’s rights, powers and prerogatives, except for those within the competence of members convened in general meeting. Unless otherwise provided by the Code, it exercises them by resolution.
Meet the members of the 2022-2023 OTTIAQ Board of Directors:
Betty Cohen, Certified Translator
President
Betty Cohen is a certified translator specializing in finance. After a career that saw her grow from self-employed translator to partner and head of linguistic services at a major accounting firm, she returned to one of her favourite professional activities: knowledge transfer. She now provides training in financial translation and consulting services in process and quality management.
She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s in translation from Université de Montréal and a Degree of In-Depth Studies in Science of Language from Université Paris XIII Sorbonne Nouvelle. Among her accomplishments is the creation of the first lexicon of phraseology in the financial sector, the Lexique de cooccurrents – Bourse et conjoncture économique, first published in 1986 with an expanded and revised edition released in 2011.
Betty Cohen has been very active in the profession since the beginning of her career. She has served on the boards of the Société des traducteurs du Québec (STQ), the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréées du Québec (OTTIAQ) and the Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council (CTTIC). She was the last president of the STQ and the first president of OTTIAQ, having worked to obtain the titles of Certified Translator, Certified Terminologist and Certified Interpreter for Quebec. Since then, she been a member of the Board of Directors of OTTIAQ on two occasions and was the editor of Circuit magazine for several years. She is currently a member of the Reserved Acts Committee and chairs the Continuing Education Committee and the Communications Committee. Internationally, she was treasurer and then president of the International Federation of Translators.
Julien Gagnon joined Sematos, a translation agency based in Quebec City, in 2012 after completing his bachelor’s degree in translation. He has since taken on a number of different responsibilities within the agency; after working as both a translator and editor, he eventually became a partner and the Quality Manager.
Being passionate and well versed in translation technology, continuous improvement, and workplace education, he is always striving to keep his agency at the forefront, and he shares the same motivation to see his peers and his industry grow and develop.
Mr. Gagnon is also very active in the translation community. He is a certified translator and sits on the board of Langulaire – Laval University’s student translation agency. For the OTTIAQ, amongst other things, he mentored many of his colleagues, he worked with several committees and he is now a member of the board of directors.
Florian Farez is a certified terminologist and translator, as well as PMP certified. Currently, he serves as the Director of French Translation and Communications at CBRE Canada.
His diverse career spans the financial and securities sectors, enhancing his expertise in corporate translation and regulatory compliance. Mr. Farez has also acquired experience in managing artificial intelligence projects. He lectures at the Université de Montréal, where he earned his Master’s in Translation.
Passionate about governance, human resources, and francization, he is dedicated to incorporating these vital elements into his professional practice.
Sarah Bouffard is a certified translator and the co-president of OTTIAQ’s Youth Committee. With academic forays into chemistry, theatre, modern languages, journalism and the biomedical sciences, she boasts a wide range of interests and holds both a bachelor’s degree in translation and a graduate microprogram certificate in French as a second language.
Since starting out in the translation world, Sarah has worked with a number of firms and agencies specializing in marketing, communications, and science for a general audience. Some of her favourite projects include the translation of a book, a short film, a website, and articles for an encyclopedia. She also had the opportunity to represent La Francophonie as an intern at the PyeongChang Olympics.
Sarah has been involved in student committees and associations since high school and never misses an opportunity to work on initiatives that mean a lot to her. In her spare time, she enjoys going to the theatre, reading, playing board games, watching movies and learning foreign languages.
Simon Denault is a lawyer with a master’s degree in management and 15 years of experience in ethics, compliance and governance. He has held management and expert positions in major public institutions, including Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Université de Montréal and now Ville de Laval as a lawyer specializing in governance. He previously worked in the field of business immigration, mainly in China.
He is the creator and co-initiator of the first university certification in ethics and compliance in Quebec and is a lecturer at Executive Education HEC Montréal.
Driven by the desire to equip organizations with the best governance practices, Mr. Denault has acted as a board member of several NPOs, a public representative on review committees in the professional system, and a member of ethics and professional conduct committees in the field of education.
Antoine Galipeau is a Certified Translator and has been a member of the youth engagement committee since its creation. His passion for languages and literature led him to earn first a bachelor’s degree in Literary and cultural studies, followed immediately by a second bachelor’s degree in professional translation from the University of Sherbrooke. He also completed his master’s degree in translation studies at Concordia University, where he investigated the subtleties involved in translating Canadian Indigenous literature, and more specifically the ethical and methodological implications inherent to the process.
In 2019, Antoine joined the Public Service of Canada and now specializes in administrative and fiscal translation as a translator-reviser.
His desire to encourage and support new talent and marginalized voices is reflected in his ongoing involvement at OTTIAQ. In this way, he aims to both empower people, and simultaneously promote the influence of language professionals as a means of protecting the public.
In his spare time, Antoine takes an interest in personal finance management and artisanal cheese-making.
Passionate, curious, and relentlessly driven, Meaghan Girard, M.Sc., C. Tr. has a closet full of hats—PhD candidate, language professional, university lecturer, event planner, entrepreneur, writer of things—and wears them all with gusto. As a doctoral researcher affiliated with HEC Montréal’s Global Innovation Networks Chair, Meaghan is leading research on values and digital platforms, with a more fundamental interest in investigating how values shape organizing and technology. Her research is supported by both the SSHRC and the FRQSC.
Prior to this mandate on OTTIAQ’s board of directors, Meaghan completed two prior mandates (2017-2021) on the board, during which she created the youth engagement committee and sat on several other strategic committees, including the machine translation committee, the conference committee, and the governance and ethics committee. Never one to stick to the sidelines of her communities, Meaghan spent 2021-2022 re-imagining the traditional HEC Montréal student symposium to act as a meaningful platform for student discourse and scholarship across all four business schools in Montreal (HEC Montréal, McGill University, Concordia University, and ESG-UQAM). She is currently setting up a solidary lab to help PhD students stay engaged with their research after they have completed their course requirements.
Last but not least, Meaghan loves birds, but knows next to nothing about them.
Graham Perra, C. Tr., holds an honours bachelors in translation (English-Spanish-French) and a graduate diploma in legal translation. Before studying translation, Graham had also completed a bachelors degree in international studies and taken courses in law. He is an avid language learner, seeking the intimate access that languages provide to cultures they express, and is currently learning Italian and Portuguese.
Having begun his translation career in the field of air navigation in Ottawa, Graham then took an opportunity to work at a translation agency in Argentina before resettling in Montreal, where he began working in legal and financial translation, first in a translation agency, then in a large, global law firm where he currently practises. He has also worked as a freelancer from time to time.
Graham spends his leisure time learning languages, practising fitness training, cycling, cross-country skiing, reading and travelling.
Gervais Lessard has operated his own private investigation firm for 22 years, where he specialized in fraud investigation. He is also a seasoned expert in private security.
Since 2014, Lessard has worked as a lecturer at Cégep Garneau and several others across the province, including in Outaouais and Chicoutimi (CEC Forestville). His teaching focuses are the humanities, political science and investigative technique.
Lessard holds a college certificate in private security and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Université Laval. He is currently pursuing a certificate in law at the same institution.
He has been a member of the case review committee of the Ordre des technologues professionnels du Québec for more than a decade. He also volunteers for his local snowmobilers’ club!
Marie Poitras has a Bachelor of Arts, a law degree and a master’s degree in business administration. She was admitted to the Barreau du Québec in 1976.
Ms. Poitras worked for the Office de la protection du consommateur as a legal advisor and as head of the monitoring committee for children’s advertising. She went on to serve as a legal advisor, special clerk, mediator and administrative judge at the Régie du logement. She was also a lecturer in consumer protection law at Université de Montréal for 20 years.
Alain Roland Breton, Certified Intrerpreter and Certified Translator
Director
Alain Breton is a conference interpreter and translator with a career spanning nearly twenty years. He holds a Master’s Degree in Conference Interpreting and a Graduate Studies Diploma in General Interpreting from York University’s Glendon Campus and a Bachelor of Arts in Translation with an International Profile from Laval University. As part of his undergraduate degree, he studied interpreting at La Autonoma de Barcelona during an exchange program in Spain.
Originally from Quebec City, Alain lived in Tokyo for seven years. He specializes in legal interpretation and has worked with several interpretation agencies. In addition to international conferences, he provides his services to the Parliament of the Northwest Territories, the National Judicial Institute, and the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice. Alain is fluent in French, English, Spanish and has also studied Japanese extensively while living in Tokyo.
He currently resides in Quebec City with his wife and two children, balancing his professional life with personal and family interests.
Director ethics and professional conduct investigation committee
Directors must comply with the Regulation respecting the standards of ethics and professional conduct of directors on the board of directors of a professional order.
The Règlement intérieur du comité d’enquête à l’éthique et à la déontologie de l’OTTIAQ establishes the procedure to be followed by the ethics and professional conduct investigation committee.
The committee’s mandate is to examine and investigate all information received regarding any breach of ethical and professional standards by an OTTIAQ director.
Board of Director's Comittees
Governance and Ethics Committee
The general mandate of the Governance and Ethics Committee is to propose a governance structure and governance policies to the Board of Directors, in addition to advising the Board of Directors, the President and the Executive Director on all matters concerning the Order’s governance and ethics. The Governance and Ethics Committee is not a decision-making committee. It submits recommendations to the Board of Directors.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is tasked with providing advising, supervision and validation support to help the Board of Directors fulfill its responsibility to oversee financial information, financial management, external auditing, financial policies and controls, financial risk management and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. One of the committee members is a cosignatory of cheques issued by the Order. The Audit Committee submits recommendations to the Board of Directors. At any time, its members may request an in camera meeting with the external auditor.
Human Resources Committee
The mandate of the Human Resources Committee is to provide human resources-related advising, supervision and validation support. It assists the Board of Directors by acting as the Executive Director’s selection committee, ensuring sufficient succession for the Board of Directors by planning training for directors, implementing human resources policies for Order employees and analyzing human resources-related risks. The Human Resources Committee is not a decision-making committee and it reports to the Board of Directors. It submits recommendations to the Board of Directors or the Executive Director as applicable.
Staff
Hélène Gauthier
C.Tr., C.Adm., Executive Director and OTTIAQ Secretary, Officer, Privacy Protection and Access to Information
The Executive Director plans, organizes and supervises the use of the Order’s human, financial, material and information resources. She works on advancing the annual action plan, represents the Order before various external bodies, advises the President and other members of the Board of Directors, and responds to requests from members and the public that do not fall under the responsibility of the Communications Officer or the Manager, Professional Affairs, or in their absence. The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors and informs the Board of her management activities. As Access to Information Officer, she responds to all requests to access OTTIAQ documents and records them in the Order’s annual report.
The Manager, Professional Affairs, handles matters concerning member qualifications. She coordinates certification, professional inspection, disciplinary, initial training and continuing education matters, supervising the permanent and/or temporary staff reporting to her. She works with the Order’s other managing bodies and acts as a contact for the Order’s strategic plan. The OTTIAQ secretary reports to the Board of Directors and provides necessary support to the Order’s bodies. She ensures that the Order operates smoothly within the framework of applicable legislation and regulations.
The Certification Officer supervises the handling of certification application files received by the Order. After examining the complete files, she presents them to the Certification Committee. She also plans and follows up on sessions for the training on ethics, professional conduct and professional practice. Her other duties include drafting minutes of Certification Committee meetings and correspondence for certification candidates, visiting companies, translation firms and universities to explain certification, and coordinating the development of the Order’s database.
As Coordinator, Professional Affairs, she handles the administrative aspects of certification files and manages training on ethics, professional conduct and professional practice. She also deals with professional inspections of members who have added a new language pair.
The Administrative Assistant provides administrative support to the Order’s managing bodies and replaces the Secretary/Receptionist in her absence. She provides technical support for long-distance meetings. She also keeps the minutes at meetings of the Board of Directors.
The Coordinator, Mentorship and Customer Service, acts as a receptionist and coordinates the mentorship program. She responds to requests for information from the public, helps clients use the Order’s online directory to find a member, and assists members with various questions related to the Member Zone (seals, stationery, etc.). She also books training or meeting spaces for external organizations. She handles mentor-mentee matching, text bank management and other tasks related to the mentorship program, and manages the Order’s database (adding new members to the membership roll, registering and renewing student members, creating activities, billing, etc.).
The Assistant, Professional Affairs and Communications, is in charge of continuing education. She coordinates all OTTIAQ events except the conference, which is sponsored. She also publishes the Order’s newsletter, L’antenne express, as well as all job postings.
