Evidence of meeting #32 for National Defence in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was english.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Capt (Ret'd) Hélène Le Scelleur
For me, it's about equity. Chances should be the same for anglophones and francophones—promotions, access to training and health services. It should be all about equity.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Thank you very much.
Monsieur Savard-Tremblay, we'll go over to you.
Bloc
Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In fact, I will have just one question, which will be quite brief. Well, the question will be, but as for the answer, that will depend.
Mr. Maisonneuve, there are destinations around the world where fluency in French is an operational asset. We can think of Haiti, Mali, Niger or Congo, for example.
Do you think this is an asset that is being used appropriately?
LGen (Ret'd) Michel Maisonneuve
In fact, if everything were going very well and everyone was bilingual, that would be very useful. I'm not just talking about serving in Haiti, where the languages are French and Creole. I'm talking about any operational position in any country.
Often, we will encounter someone who speaks either English or French as a second language. Often, knowing a Romance language or a Germanic language also helps you learn and gain some understanding of the language of the country where you are serving.
That's why I say that being bilingual is an operational asset.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
I want to thank you all for your service to Canada, as well as for strengthening the value of Canada's two official languages. That's very good.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Charles Sousa
Portuguese would be better. I don't speak French.
We are going to wrap up our meeting with the concurrence of the members. If there's nothing more, I'll adjourn.
