I'd like to make two comments here. First of all a point of clarification, Mr. Chairman. Technically, I don't report to the Department of National Defence, but rather to the minister. I was appointed by the governor in council. Yes, I report to the minister, and I mentioned that. Perhaps it's worthwhile to point it out again. When I raised the question in the presence of the former minister, Mr. O'Connor, in late July, I saw his reaction. I was there when he issued directives, orders and instructions to the military. It was quite clear that he wanted things to change, and they did change.
Now with respect to Mr. MacKay, Ms. Brandon and I met with him in late September and we discussed a number of files, including this one. I mentioned to him how important this one was. I can tell you that the minister stated that he's extremely interested in this situation. I promised him that I'd keep him informed of developments as things progressed.
The last point I'd like to underscore, Mr. Chairman, is the fact that we did start at the lowest level, in one sense. When I left the Borden base in November, I went to see the commander in his office, in the presence of his chief warrant officer, who is the highest ranking non-commissioned officer, and I told him that they had a serious problem and that I was certainly going to follow up on this issue, because according to what I'd heard, the way francophones were treated left a great deal to be desired. They were seized with this question immediately and that's why I wrote to the Chief of the Defence Staff about a month later. Given the importance and the seriousness of the issue, I felt it was appropriate to inform him.