Community Advisory Group for the Provincial Medical Sign language Interpreting Service

Good afternoon,

I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Community Advisory Group for the provincial medical Sign language interpreting service. The establishment of this group is directly related to the feedback received through engagement session with the community in 2018 and 2019.

I look forward to working closely with this community advisory group to continually improve equitable access to health care services for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing patients across British Columbia. The ASL announcement can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXe5NKUWZBw.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to apply to become a member of the CAG. Sixteen applications from very qualified applicants representing diverse perspectives were received. After a comprehensive analysis of all the perspective presented by each candidate, the selection committee chose seven members based on the pre-set primary and secondary criteria. One spot is saved for Indigenous representation.

Primary criteria were:

• Geographic representation: ensuring we have representatives from Greater Vancouver, the Interior, Vancouver Island, and the North.
• Diversity in type of language support required: ensuring we have representatives who are deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing.

Secondary criteria were related to diversity of representatives related to the following categories:

• Age
• Indigenous ancestry
• Gender identity
• Urban/non-urban representation
• Immigrants/refugees
• Deaf-plus representation: ensuring that we have representatives for as many of the listed categories.

The seven selected members provide the most diverse representation of perspectives based on the selection criteria and those who applied. CAG members will serve a 2 year term.

Members selected are:

1. Craig MacLean (Deaf-blind/Lower Mainland)
2. Dan Braun (Deaf/Lower Mainland)
3. Gordon Rattray (Hard of hearing/Interior)
4. Leanor Vlug (Deaf/Lower Mainland)
5. Monika Lane (Deaf/Vancouver Island)
6. Nancy Zavaglia (Deaf/North – Prince George)
7. Sarah Taylor (Deaf/Lower Mainland)

Selection Committee

The members of the selection committee were recruited from within internal government resources based on their neutrality (had not applied to be on CAG) and their understanding of the health care system. Selection committee was made up of two deaf people and one hearing and signing person. The process was facilitated by a neutral, third-party stakeholder engagement firm, Delaney + Associates.

Again, I would like to thank you for your valuable input and I hope that you continue to provide feedback via the CAG members.

Kindest regards.

Kiran Malli
Director,  Provincial Language Service
Provincial Health Services Authority