The author investigates the translation policy and translation process of the Canadian government, specifically providing insights into the way the bilingual institution of the Prime Minister’s Office mediates its image to the population through translation. She shows that the practices differed in translating speeches delivered by four Canadian Prime Ministers: William Mackenzie, King, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien, which suggests that different political weight was given to the speech communities in the officially bilingual Canada. Different internal rules about translation in the Office of the Prime Minister at different times also meant that the status of the translators was seen differently for example in terms of trust, professional recognition, working environment.