Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Côté and Ms. Brandon, thank you for appearing before us this morning.
I am very worried about the issue that you raised during your presentation. I would like to look at it from a very specific point of view. Let me give you some background. A few months ago, the former Minister of National Defence appeared before the committee to discuss certain files. It had to do with not requiring that high-ranking officers become bilingual. In other words, they would be allowed to remain as unilingual anglophones, and the francophones would agree to it.
During that meeting, I put a question to the minister, who, I imagine, was using interpretation. I asked him to answer me in French, but he was not able to do that. I then pointed out to him that if I were a francophone soldier who does not understand English and that if this person gave me orders in English on the battlefield, I would be in bad shape. My quality of life, my health and my safety could be in jeopardy. It would be a serious problem.
Mr. Ombudsman, if these students cannot understand English—and they are not obliged to do so—do you think that this situation is bad for their training, their safety, and, if they need medical care, for their health? They may not even be in a position to receive the services that they are entitled to. The federal government of this country is boasting that it is bilingual, but those are just empty words. In fact, when it comes down to the crunch, it does the opposite of what it says it is doing. Do you think that this is fair to francophone soldiers or would-be soldiers?