Absolutely. Thanks for raising that point. I'm glad you did because I don't want to have any misconceptions based on that.
The next sentence that I said in my statement is that they want to be identified as part of the Canadian Armed Forces, and that's an important aspect.
I heard from many members as I have as the champion for visible minorities. I have what we call a visible minority advisory group made up of visible minorities within the Canadian Armed Forces. I just met with approximately 30 of them two weeks ago. We talk about a number of issues they bring up.
At one of the previous meetings with them when I first came into the position and as we were standing up Op Generation, how we're going to recruit, I was a bit taken to task. I had members from this advisory group and other individuals who said they didn't want to be known as coming from this or that organization. When they were in, they wanted to be part of the Canadian Armed Forces. One of them, who was a general officer of Japanese ancestry, soon to retire, has been very successful in his career, was the one who took me to task for 15 minutes on this. He said when it first came out that we wanted people to self-identify, he looked upon it as something he did not want to do. He wanted to be known just as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces.
So when I raise the issue, it's not to say that you shouldn't be proud of where you come from, far from it. As Jean-Marc indicated, we gain tremendously from having this wide diversity, but as for them, when they're coming to join the Canadian Armed Forces they want to feel they're coming to be part of this team. I think that's one of the big things. It's a powerful feeling for them. I had both young and older members from visible minorities, different ethnic backgrounds, who said they first and foremost want to be identified as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. That's what my comment was intended to say.