CTTIC was founded in 1970 and is the legal successor of the Society of Translators and Interpreters of Canada (STIC), which had been incorporated in 1956. It is a federation of eleven provincial and territorial bodies, two of which, the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO) and the Ordre des Traducteurs, Terminologues et Interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ) (formerly Société des Traducteurs du Québec), are its founding members.

Since 1972 they have been joined by:
· the Corporation of Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters of New Brunswick (CTINB)
· the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta (ATIA)
· the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba (ATIM)
· the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Saskatchewan (ATIS)
· the Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia (STIBC)
· the Interpreters/Translators Society of the Northwest Territories (ITSNWT)
· the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Nova Scotia (ATINS)
· the Society of Interpreters and Translators of Yukon (SITY)
· the Nunavut Interpreters/Translators Association.
· The Association of Visual Language Interpreters of Canada (AVLIC)

An important part of CTTIC's role is to represent the profession internationally, particularly through affiliation with the International Federation of Translators (FIT), which gives member societies a window on the world. FIT has member societies in more than fifty countries and is itself associated with various international organizations, including UNESCO. Its activities include holding a world congress, to which CTTIC sends an official delegation. CTTIC has been represented on the FIT Council for a number of years, and had the honour of hosting the 8th World Congress in Montréal in 1977. In 1990, FIT elected its first president from a non- European country, a past president of CTTIC, M. Jean-Fran?ois Joly. Again, at the 16th World Congress in Vancouver in 2002, a Canadian was elected president of FIT, Madame Betty Cohen.

CTTIC also seeks close co-operation with the translation community in North America, namely the Literary Translators Association of Canada (LTAC), the American Translators Association (ATA) and the Asociación de Traductores Profesionales (ATP) and the Organización Mexicana de Traductores (OMT) of Mexico through the FIT Regional Network for North America (RNNA), of which it is a founding member. In 2002, CTTIC signed a cooperation agreement with ACTI (Asociación Cubana de Traductores y Intérpretes).  In Canada, it has established relations and exchanges with other groups, including the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC), the Canadian Association for Translation Studies (CATS) and the Association of Visual Language Interpreters of Canada (AVLIC).

CTTlC holds periodic conferences to provide language professionals from across Canada with an opportunity to meet and discuss issues of national concern. Member bodies also hold conferences, alone or in collaboration with other professional organizations or groups interested in languages, on topics of interest to their members.

CTTIC promotes the training of qualified language professionals through its member bodies, which co- operate with provincial and territorial educational institutions offering programs in translation, terminology, interpretation and related areas.

CTTlC represents the interests of its members at the national level in matters such as copyright for translators and relations between the federal Translation Bureau and other government departments.