Executive Committee Member Profile: Michèle Wilson, Member at Large

Michèle Wilson

 

After 12 years at the Translation Bureau posted at the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, I needed a change. I heard that IDRC was looking for a translator. I applied and was accepted. It was a 1-year secondment. The year was 1982. A few months later, I thought I wanted to return to Indian Affairs, but I stayed at IDRC. Sometime later the position of Head of the translation section became available and was offered to me. Not convinced that I wanted to stay at IDRC, I asked to prolong my secondment, but instead was forced to make a choice by the Director of the Communications Division to which translation reported. I chose IDRC, and stayed there until 1995.

 

From translator to Section head, I quickly found out that managing translation was a lot easier than managing people, as my husband had warned me! I think I nonetheless succeeded in providing a good translation service to IDRC during the 12 years I was there, and I also gained a good friend (no small feat!)One day I received a bottle of wine for suggesting the title of the French version of the film of Neill McKee on the water pump. The English title was A Handle on Health. After a few days of toying with different titles, L’artisane de la santé came to me. I was convinced it was the right title. It’s not a remarkable fact, hardly a good find that sums up the theme of the film. I was nonetheless glad to have come up with that title, and that it was accepted.

 

Today, I no longer do paid translation. I have tried various forms of volunteer work and haven’t found anything that satisfies me. My volunteer work, so to speak, is to help two people as best I can: a 92-year-old Austrian man who has been living in a residence for a year, and whom I see almost every day, and a 68-year-old Chinese political refugee who has been living with me since his arrival in Canada almost 4 years ago. I feel like I am doing something good and that is enough for me. Reading, swimming, cycling, gardening, and, from time to time, knitting are my favourite activities.

 

Bulletin 72
April 2024