Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First I'd like to welcome you and congratulate you on your appointment.
I also want to say hello to Mr. Egglefield.
It's interesting to see that, since January 2008, the ombudsman left and was replaced by an acting ombudsman, who did her best but only had the time to surf the wave a little then leave without being able to do anything. I don't want to blame her, however. You now have a permanent position. So there should be some continuity in your research efforts, particularly since you're very familiar with the situation.
The information we've received indicates that 77% of dental services courses are not offered in French. We're told that 33 courses are offered in English, that six are provided in French and that one is given in both languages. We know the situation: they simply don't care about the official languages. We're celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Official Languages Act and yet things are going from bad to worse. There were improvements until September of last year, but nothing has happened since the last election. It's as though everything had fallen back into the void.
In your opinion, what is the attitude of the Canadian Forces? Do the generals and colonels want us to stop bothering them with this because they think their mission is to defend people in Canada and abroad? Do they want us to stop bothering them with official languages? Is that their attitude?