OTTAWA – The CRTC today approved $30 million in funding for the Canadian Administrator of VRS (CAV) from the National Contribution Fund (NCF).
The funding, which was approved on an interim basis last November, is to be paid out in 12 equal, monthly payments, starting this past January.
“Access to this funding will enable the CAV to continue to offer video relay service in Canada to the benefit of all Canadians,” the CRTC’s decision explains. “Video relay service (VRS) enables people who use sign language to conduct telephone calls and communicate with voice telephone users using sign language.” It does so by connecting those who use sign language to another party who can interpret through an operator.
The CAV applied for the funding in July 2021. The $30 million is the maximum funding it was able to apply for as the CRTC determined in 2014 that it would be the funding cap for costs related to VRS.
In its application, however the CAV projected it would need $32.5 million in funding for 2022 as it projected expenditures to be $29.8 million and it needs an additional $2.7 million to bring its reserves to $3 million, according to the CRTC’s decision.
The reserve is required in case the projected budget is too conservative.
The CAV noted “that should additional funds be necessary, they would likely be necessary in the third quarter of 2022 and that it would file an application at that time,” the decision reads.
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