Cultural interpretation services within a multicultural context: an exploration of the problematic and ethical issues facing social service institutions.

This paper explores the challenges for social service agencies which offer cultural interpretation services in their bid to meet the needs of service seekers and recipients from linguistic minorities. The author argues that cultural interpretation is provided by institutions that have done little more than add a service for clients from cultural minorities, while leaving intact their service structures--structures that have historically viewed language and "cultural differences" as problems. This orientation will need to change if these services are to be accessible and equitable for Canadians from linguistic and ethnic minorities. While cultural interpreters remain critical to service delivery, they need to work within institutions where service providers and administrators understand language as a cultural, social, and political instrument through which individuals articulate their identities, realities, and understandings of their cultural contexts and service needs. This paper concludes by identifying some of the ethical dilemmas and questions that attend the needed institutional changes.