Evidence of meeting #37 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was library.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Andrew Smith  Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence
Louis Meloche  Commander, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Department of National Defence

9:55 a.m.

Commander, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Department of National Defence

Col Louis Meloche

Things are going well. I mentioned some figures in my presentation. The number of individuals taking full-time language training has increased. To repeat the figures I mentioned, I would point out that we went from 91 to 237 people in this category from 2008-2009 to 2010-2011. That would be people taking full-time instruction, but you should also count those who are taking part-time training.

Moreover, as of the end of January, online language training will be available. It will be similar to what exists on the civilian market.

9:55 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney

Okay, but who is benefiting from this second language training?

9:55 a.m.

Commander, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Department of National Defence

Col Louis Meloche

Francophones and anglophones. Clearly in the case of French-language courses, francophones are teaching them.

9:55 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney

Ah, I understand: these are instructors who are getting second-language training.

9:55 a.m.

Commander, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Department of National Defence

Col Louis Meloche

Instructors and leaders.

9:55 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney

Very well, thank you.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

9:55 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Smith, you are indeed Chief of Military Personnel, correct?

9:55 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

That is correct.

9:55 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

So that would be all military personnel, right?

9:55 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

As Chief of Military Personnel, I have the mandate to implement centralized policies in the area of human resources for Canadian Forces personnel.

9:55 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

That includes the official languages champion.

9:55 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

That is part of my duties.

9:55 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

I will read you some newspaper quotes. Again, as you will note, I am still referring to the library. I'm not giving up. They read as follows:

On the ever-sensitive issue of official languages within the armed forces, this decision has angered a number of teachers at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School on the site. This is where thousands of recruits spend their first eight weeks in training. It is also in St. Jean that officers from 60 countries come to take courses. Many of these military men and women take second-language training, either in French or English. They would use library documents for their training and research. [...] Same message from Léon de Montigny, who retired three weeks ago, after having taught in Garrison Saint-Jean for 23 years. “A sound mind in a sound body, says the army. Well, a sound mind involves culture! For those who have a thirst for knowledge, to learn a language or anything else, what message are they getting from the library closure?” [...] In a note to the military community, Col Daniel Genest, Commander of 5 Area Support Group says that cutbacks were inevitable.“The various streamlining initiatives involved determining what was essential rather than attempting to do everything with fewer resources”—this is what he wrote on September 29. Capt Philippe Boutin, Public Affairs Officer at Garrison Saint-Jean, says that the library transformed into a pedagogical resource centre for the language school. “All documents regarding languages will remain accessible”—this is what he said, yet he admits that military personnel not taking these types of courses will no longer have access to the services. “We have been thinking about this for four years, it was not an overnight decision. We feel the need no longer exists. We manage taxpayers' money, so we are not going to maintain something that is useless”—that is a quote from Capt Boutin.

Is the library useless?

9:55 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

I must admit that libraries are always useful resources, wherever they may be.

What I will say to you is that with regard to the issue of the Allard library, we have every intention to cooperate fully--as we have always done--with the Commissioner of Official Languages to make sure the facts are put on the table with respect to the library, such that they can be considered in an objective and full manner, to make sure they are fully addressed.

9:55 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

So, I'm wondering why I received a letter from the Commissioner of Official Languages stating the following:

We had begun a facilitated complaint resolution process in the hope of obtaining results before the December 15, 2010 deadline, but we did not get the required cooperation from DND. Therefore, we will be proceeding to a formal investigation to rule on the merits of the complaint.

That is the absolute opposite of what you have just said.

10 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

As I said earlier, the library forms part of the Chief of the Land Staff's....

The Chief of the Land Staff is responsible for Garrison Saint-Jean.

I can't speak with respect to the observations of the commissioner directly. What I was told was that as of December 2 the commissioner has accepted the complaint, and we will participate fully in that, as we always do.

10 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

The departmental performance report makes no mention of official languages. Can you commit to including official languages in your next report?

10 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

The next report—

10 a.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

You do produce ministerial reports, right?

10 a.m.

Chief of Military Personnel, Champion of Official Languages, Department of National Defence

RAdm Andrew Smith

Our reports on plans and priorities, oui. What I will say is that the reports on plans and priorities are again something that is taken to heart inside the Canadian Forces and the department, which is

managed by the Vice-Chief.

I will certainly take your comments back and have a discussion with the vice-chief, because I'm not sure exactly where his direction is in that regard.

10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney

Thank you.

10 a.m.

Commander, Canadian Forces Base Borden, Department of National Defence

Col Louis Meloche

We produce a report on official languages according to the model given to us by Treasury Board Secretariat. You may recall that the third objective under the transformation model consisted in implementing a performance management system. So, 150 performance indicators were established for the various parts of the act. We are testing this in certain areas so as to do a complete roll-out in the summer of 2012. That will be the crux of the report. If we were to include official languages in the Report on Plans and Priorities, it would probably not be as comprehensive as the 150 performance indicators.

10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

This completes the first part of our meeting. We will suspend proceedings for a few minutes. We will then resume in camera and deal with committee business.

I would like to thank RAdm Smith. This was his first visit to the committee as Official Languages Champion. I also thank Mr. Meloche for his overview of the updates to the transformation model.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]