National Defence Committee on April 15th, 2026

[MGen Martin Gros-Jean]

It is “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear”.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

Thank you.

Lieutenant-General, you mentioned a screening process. I remember that my screening process in the officer stream was a discussion with the major, who basically had a conversation with me and, at the end of it, asked if I was able to kill somebody. To me, that's not an adequate screening process. This was only in 2009, I think.

Is there a more enhanced screening process now?

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

Mr. Chair, this is one of many aspects of the screening process. What you just described with the major is the interview process.

We take their role very seriously, in that we train them to do this. I cannot speak to 2009, but currently they are being trained.

They have to follow a very strict protocol in terms of the questions asked, the duration and how to validate information that applicants have provided us beforehand. We validate the information with the applicants. That's one. We have the aptitude tests that we impose. We have all the documentation going from academic to citizenship, to doing background checks on the members as well—

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

I'm sorry to interrupt. That was one part of the question. There is another part of the question. I've been around warfare a bit, and I know that it attracts some people whose legal status is questionable. A lot of those people may be applying here. Does IRCC pass on to you or alert you that there's a lack of paperwork on their end? In the refugee stream, that's often the case.

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

That's a great question, Mr. Chair.

Up to last year, we had no agreements with IRCC to share information. We've just produced an information-sharing agreement with IRCC so that they can inform us of those and pass on information for us to validate. We wouldn't accept it without doing any double-checking, but this facilitates and accelerates the security clearance process in steering us to certain areas that need to be analyzed more thoroughly, for example.

[Scott Anderson, Conservative, Vernon—Lake Country—Monashee, BC]

Thank you very much.

I'm going to pass the rest of my time over to my colleague Jeff Kibble.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a couple of quick questions.

I will add to your comment, Lieutenant-General, about the use of the naval reserve units in Quebec. There are also naval reserve headquarters and fleet schools, so I think the navy has excellent representation. They do great work in Quebec.

I want to revisit one of my earlier questions. Are there any challenges in terms of retention of francophone or indigenous members—specific to those groups? What is being done to overcome these?

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

My colleague doesn't want to say it. He told me that there are no differences between indigenous and francophones. I don't think there are barriers to their progression. We value their contributions, and we're trying to increase their numbers. I'm speaking mainly about the indigenous side.

I briefed you earlier on the ratio of general officers, flag officers and chief warrant officers. They are in the top 34% or 35% of the pyramid. This suggests to me that, once they overcome the hurdles of the early training, they're very successful at making it a career.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

There are no specific retention issues, then, within these groups.

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

I haven't observed any specific retention issues for either of these groups.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Good. Thank you.

How many complaints does the director of official languages receive annually, regarding official language rights in the Canadian Forces? Maybe you could speak about that as well.

[Anne Rahming]

I provided a few stats earlier that were for the last couple of years, just for your information. For 2023-25, we had 73 complaints related to the language of work, and then we had three complaints related to participation in the language.... I'm going to say this right. I'm reading in French and trying to translate to English right now.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Say it in French.

[Anne Rahming]

It’s easier. These were complaints regarding the participation of French-speaking and English-speaking Canadians.

That was three out of a total of 201 cases in the two-year period.

I want to remind you that, when we're giving you stats, these stats include National Defence and CAF. They're not disaggregated, because they're anonymous. We have to decrypt that based on the situation.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Very quickly, if I may, are there any specific programs offered for only indigenous members and made specifically for them?

[Anne Rahming]

I'm unable to speak to that specifically.

[MGen Martin Gros-Jean]

Could you repeat the question?

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Are there any specific programs for indigenous members that would support their interest in joining or attract them as an important component of the forces?

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

Mr. Chair, we have two. One is the indigenous leadership opportunity year, the ILOY program. We onboard 31 people every year to our military colleges. We can keep them in the regular force at their choice, in the reserve force or elsewhere. There are the indigenous summer programs as well. There is the navigator program.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Is it the Raven program that you're talking about?

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

Yes, the Raven program. Those are all the summer programs.

[Jeff Kibble, Conservative, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Charles Sousa]

Thank you, Mr. Kibble.

We have an indigenous member of Parliament with us today. Our members are giving her some time as well.

Ms. Lori Idlout, it's over to you for five minutes.

[Lori Idlout, Liberal, Nunavut, NU]

Qujannamiik, Iksivautaq. Thank you, Chair.

I thank my colleagues for sharing their time with me.

I thank the witnesses for the great testimony they have shared today, as well as for their service.

Before I ask my question regarding the junior ranger program, I want to acknowledge the great work that Joint Task Force North is doing, as well as the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. Their presence is felt every day in Nunavut. They are highly regarded in our communities.

I appreciate your acknowledgement that more need to be recruited. We have great people, such as Sergeant Titus Allooloo, who is a Canadian Ranger, as well as Major Sean Brinkema, who is with the Joint Task Force North. They are sharing great information about what's going on with the Canadian Armed Forces.

Whose responsibility is it to recruit and retain people for the junior ranger program so that we can continue to increase interest in eventually becoming Canadian Rangers?

[LGen Erick Simoneau]

Mr. Chair, the responsibility for the junior ranger program rests with the director general of reserves and cadets, who is from the VCDS side of the house. It's not within my responsibilities.

What I could say, though, as I said for the rangers, is that we value cadets and junior rangers. Although we cannot recruit from those pools, we value their contribution and their proximity to us, so they are informed of the possibilities of joining the CAF should they wish to at some point. It's a great incubator within society to inculcate values and ethics into our youth, not just junior rangers but cadets as well. I myself was in air cadets as I grew up in Beauport, and I can attest to the benefits associated with those organizations.

Sadly, I cannot answer more about the program and expansion, but rest assured that there are no talks at National Defence now about cutting. There's only talk about growing those very important capabilities.