Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Incidentally, the champion is identified in the document that was submitted to us. It's Mr. Jack Bouchard, who is a major. This is a program that is common in all the departments. Canadian Heritage handles this aspect of official languages. It isn't just in the armed forces.
What you're saying is that this person appears in the picture somewhat like Joan of Arc, to try to solve all the problems. He becomes a resource person, but that will never solve the problem of a lack of course material or a lack of courses within the Canadian armed forces.
When I was in Saskatchewan, during the debate on the heads of the 1997 election campaign, the leader of the Bloc Québécois pointed out that, in Bagotville, for example, the children of anglophone military members had access to English courses, but that, in Moose Jaw, it was impossible to get courses in French. That's since changed because the community has taken charge of the situation. That's always what comes to my mind when I think about the Canadian Forces: non-respect of the French fact.
Mr. Ombudsman, I hope that you'll be plunging into this matter. It's not just the officer, man or woman, but it's the entire family who suffers from the fact that the French fact is becoming non-existent in too many places. Children are assimilated because they don't even have the basics to maintain their knowledge of French. Consequently, instruction must be given in French. That has to be the case on the bases, or else in the public systems around the bases. We have to ensure that they can get access to those services. Where there are no services, we must create them; we must create the active offer. That's the very basis of what the Commissioner of Official Languages provides. We must ensure an active offer; that's an obligation provided for in the act.
We met with Mr. Fraser not long ago. I can't wait to meet with Mr. Semianiw and Mr. Meloche, who are responsible for the Canadian Forces' Official Languages Transformation Model.
I'd like to know whether I correctly understood. The colonels and generals who don't have a CBC-level knowledge of French will be losing their positions and will not be entitled to promotions as of December 2009. Are you aware of that?