Mr. Chairman, members of the Standing Committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for this opportunity to update you this morning on the situation at the CFB Borden with regard to instruction and services in French.
As was stated, I've commanded the Canadian Defence Academy since July of this summer. That includes, in this capacity, the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, Canadian Forces Base Borden, and a number of schools throughout the Canadian Forces.
Allow me to mention, first of all, that I welcome the involvement of the Canadian Forces' ombudsman in this case, since it is in our common interest to improve the services provided to Canadian Forces personnel training and on duty at Borden. So we're taking these findings seriously. A force that promotes the vitality of its linguistic groups and an understanding of diversity is a more seasoned force that has more resources.
We fully appreciate, as well, that for the recruits this initial period of training will influence how they view the Canadian Forces as an institution. We also recognize their rights to have the instruction and services in the language of their choice. We are working very hard to address the issues raised by the ombudsman.
Let me briefly outline some of those, and I can expand on any in the question period, if you are interested.
In August of this year, the commander of CFC Borden proclaimed the Canadian Forces Base Borden Official Languages Strategic Plan for 2007 to 2010. The plan also states the resources required for its implementation. I am working with General Semianiw to ensure that the highest priority is given to the necessary resources for the plan's implementation. We have a few initiatives, in particular the selection of a senior officer as official languages champion for CFB Borden, the introduction of an awareness campaign including articles in newspapers, postal missions and improvements to our Borden Web site.
We also hosted a open house style activity in October, receiving more than 25 organizations from the regional Francophone community. I personally visited CFB Borden on two occasions. I met with the base's officers and senior non-commissioned officers in order to emphasize the importance of the Canadian Forces' Base Borden Official Languages Strategic Plan. I also met with more than 300 Francophone recruits to discuss their concerns. Last month, I visited the base again and held information sessions with personnel and a number of students taking courses in French. I also sent two teams from my staff to assist the base commander.
In order to maintain this momentum, we've also begun implementing a number of initiatives to ensure that the provision of training, education, and services continues to improve, especially for francophone recruits. We are providing all new staff and students arriving at CFB Borden with information on their linguistic rights and responsibilities and we are seeking their feedback when they leave the base. We are enhancing our cadre of linguistically qualified instructors, educators, and service providers. We have invested additional resources to translate course material into French. We have begun working with civilian education and training providers to improve our instructional and support capability, and we are continuing to enhance education awareness on official languages.
To sum up, we recognize the need to protect the rights of all members of the Canadian Forces. The ombudsman has identified deficiencies at CFB Borden, and will correct them vigorously and energetically.
Significant progress has been achieved since his visit. However, despite the initiatives and additional resources invested, a sustained effort over a number of years appears to be required in order to improve the official languages situation at Borden to a satisfactory level. We nevertheless remain committed to building on recent progress in order to achieve that goal.
Thank you very much.