"An absolute pleasure to work with, Gaston Murdock always goes above and beyond, providing quality, thoughtful work, often exceeding our expectations in the level of research and attention to detail."

– Amber Wojtowicz, Language Consultant (Translation and Revision)
​Université de Saint-Boniface, Service de perfectionnement linguistique
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Founded in 2011, Gaston Murdock helps Canadian organizations communicate confidently in both official languages. We focus on texts where accuracy is a condition for compliance and public trust.

Our certified translators all bring deep expertise in their respective areas of specialization. Whether it's a court submission, HR policy, immigration application, or scientific article, the result is a translation that reads as if it were originally drafted in the target language: clear, precise, and defensible.

Please see our Services page for more details on how we work and our approach to AI.
Leadership

Jamie McLennan, C. Tr.
Founder, Gaston Murdock

Jamie McLennan has provided translation services to businesses, organizations, and institutional clients across Canada for more than 16 years. He currently serves as president of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba and is a certified member of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec.

His linguistic bona fides include a bachelor's degree in translation from York University and graduate-level coursework in legal translation at McGill University.

Jamie's path to translation began as a French immersion student in Winnipeg's public school system. His passion for languages and music first inspired him to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in vocal performance, which led to a twenty-year career on opera stages across Canada.

After several years balancing opera engagements with freelance translation work, Jamie founded Gaston Murdock in 2011 and has since grown it into a practice serving institutional and government clients from coast to coast.

This material was not published by ATIM or OTTIAQ and its contents are the sole responsibility of its author.

Publications
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Report and diagnostic tool
​Authors: Courcelles, R., Hardy, S., Prada, K. 
​Comfortable in our own skin: Development of a Diagnostic Tool to Help Design and Assess Safe, Inclusive, and Equitable Services and Partnerships for All French-Speaking 2SLGBTQ+ People in Manitoba. Collectif LGBTQ* du Manitoba. 
[Translated by Jamie McLennan]
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Book chapter
Author: Anne Hertzog
“Cultural Policy and the Promotion of World War I Heritage Sites in France: Emerging Professions and Hybrid Practices.”
In Jonathan Paquette (Ed.), Cultural Policy, Work and Identity: The Creation, Renewal and Negotiation of Professional Subjectivities. 
[Translated by Jamie McLennan]
Eighteenth-Century Studies
Journal article
Author: Swann Paradis
eview of A General History of Quadrupeds 
​by Thomas Bewick. 
​Eighteenth-Century Studies, 47(1) : 79-81.
[Translated by Jamie McLennan]
Buffon's Histoire naturelle
Journal article
Author: Swann Paradis
“The Anatomic Descriptions of Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton and the Drawings of Jacques de Sève: The Hidden Scientific Gem of Buffon’s Histoire naturelle.”  
International Workshop: Image on Text, Text on Image (1450-1789), August 21, Mount Allison University.
​[Translated by Jamie McLennan and Andrea Harrington]
Cultural Policy, Work and Identity
Book chapter
Author: Frédéric Poulard
“Curators and the State, a Question of Interdependencies: The Case of France.” In Jonathan Paquette (Ed.), Cultural Policy, Work and Identity: The Creation, Renewal and Negotiation of Professional Subjectivities. Farnham: Ashgate
​[Translated by Jamie McLennan] 

Canadian Public Administration in the 21st Century
Book chapter
Author: Louis Simard
“Environmental Governance, Public Action Tools, and Public Participation: The Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement and the Régie de l’énergie (Québec).” In Charles Conteh and Ian Roberge, (Eds.), Canadian Public Administration in the Twenty-First Century. Oxford: Taylor & Francis, pp.117-140.
[Translated By Jamie McLennan]

Eighteenth-Century Studies
Journal article
​Author: Swann Paradis
Review of Œuvres complètes, Vols. IV-V, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi by (Georges-Louis Leclerc de) Buffon, text established, introduced and annotated by Stéphane Schmitt. 
​Eighteenth-Century Studies, 45(2): 315-318.
​[Translated by Jamie McLennan]
Who is Gaston Murdock?
Gaston Murdock was in fact two people: Gaston Desjardins and Murdock McLennan, the grandfather and grandfather-in-law of our firm's founder, Jamie McLennan. 

Gaston grew up a tenth-generation Québécois with deep roots in his community on the banks of Lac Saint-Jean. A butcher by trade, he also served as a soldier in the Canadian Army during World War II, where he learned the only English words he ever spoke: the lyrics to It's a Long Way to Tipperary. To a Quebecer in the early part of the 20th century, Tipperary must have seemed a long way away indeed.

Murdock lived his entire life in Winnipeg. He left school after Grade 8 and delivered messages for the CPR before starting his career at the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. In the 1940s and '50s, wheat was a booming business, and Murdock would come home with stories of signing million-dollar purchase cheques. Back then, that bought a lot of grain. "Cookie" (as his friends called him) was also a talented clarinetist. On weekends he could be found playing waltzes, swing numbers and polkas with fellow band members at dance halls across the city.
These two men never met. They didn't even speak the same language. But by naming the company after them, we honour two family legacies while celebrating Canada’s French and English linguistic heritage—something we continue to do in our work every day.
Gaston Desjardins
Gaston Desjardins
Murdock McLennan
Murdock McLennan
Our logo
Gaston Murdock's unique logo was created by artist and graphic designer Sandra Busta.

The blue and red in our circle graphic represent Gaston Murdock's language combination, French and English. 
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Here in Canada, our two official languages often intersect, but they can also be isolated in their separate cultural spheres. The centre black ring illustrates the role of translation in linking the "two solitudes," something we love to do at Gaston Murdock!
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