Public Accounts committee  With professions where the Canadian Forces actually pays for someone's tuition, such as a dentist or a doctor, we have what is called obligatory service for the years we put them through school. You have to remember that we have to strike a balance between actually attracting that applicant to the Canadian Forces and a term or obligatory service to the extent which they would still want to become a member of the Canadian Forces and not feel they were going to be locked into something that gave them no flexibility whatsoever.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. At all of the Canadian Forces recruiting centres you can be recruited in either language.

Public Accounts committee  It doesn't matter where. In all Canadian Forces organizations, units, formations, where there is a service being provided, especially our recruiting centres, that service can be provided in either official language.

Public Accounts committee  There are some limitations on training courses as one progresses through the Canadian Forces. We are attempting to address that and increase the number of bilingual instructors so we can provide as much training as possible in both official languages.

Public Accounts committee  I believe it's grade 10. For some of the occupations the minimum education requirement is grade 10.

Public Accounts committee  The requirement in the armed forces is that in order to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel or commander, you have to be functionally bilingual in both official languages. In terms of the comments you made, I mentioned earlier our interest in reaching out to our diverse cultural communities across Canada.

Public Accounts committee  I can't speak to the actual statistics, because I don't know--

Public Accounts committee  I can certainly give you what the aboriginal representation is in the Canadian Forces, but I would be unable to tell you how many Canadian aboriginals are serving in the United States armed forces. That's their privacy...unless they actually had it recorded in their personnel statistics and released it to us.

Public Accounts committee  I don't know if I have the statistics resident here today, but Commodore MacIsaac did work as director general for the reserves and cadets. I will pass the microphone to him, with the chair's permission, in a moment. What I do want to say is that I know for a fact that we get a lot of interest from those young men and women who have served in the three cadet corps, army, navy and air.

Public Accounts committee  The first thing I'd like to see in a recruit is a proud Canadian who supports the values we have in this country and who wants to promote those values across Canada, and abroad as well. Those are the types of qualities you will see in most people who wear this uniform. The second thing is that we are looking for an educated, well rounded, physically fit, and adventurous individual, because a lot of what we do requires those qualities in order to be successful in the Canadian Forces.

Public Accounts committee  Yes, that is part of our comprehensive plan. We know what our intake requirements are from now until 2010. If we continue to grow to 70,000—under a smart growth plan, where we can actually take in, train, and absorb the people we anticipate recruiting—we already have statistical models in place to deal with this, and we have a very comprehensive national recruiting attractions plan to achieve those goals.

Public Accounts committee  Most certainly. In fact, I will provide to this committee our national recruiting attractions plan as well as our strategic guidance on national recruiting, which is just about to be signed by the Chief of the Defence Staff.

Public Accounts committee  What you witnessed on board the ship was a principle of Canadian Forces integration. There are certain occupations, such as those in the medical or logistics fields, that actually serve a common purpose throughout the Canadian Forces, regardless of the colour of the uniform. They can serve in any number of units in any organization, whether it's in the army, the navy, or the air force.

Public Accounts committee  None of our qualification standards were touched.

Public Accounts committee  It probably is too early to tell. I don't even know if Commodore MacIsaac would have anything further to add, Mr. Chair, but we're very pleased with the response. It may have something to do with the attention the Canadian Forces is getting both in the media, with the additional advertising, and also through our national recruiting attractions plan.