Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In the fall of 2006, the ombudsman, Mr. Côté, filed a rather damning report in which he pointed out numerous problems for francophones seeking services in their language at Borden. Even the base chiefs acknowledged that it was difficult to provide services in French. I'm going to name you a few: I won't read you the entire report:
[...] a refusal to offer English second-language courses to francophone recruits; an incitement to change trades when documents in French are not available; lack of second-language skills among instructors who interact with unilingual francophone recruits; the risk of ostracism if francophone recruits dared to ask for services in French. Many of the francophone recruits do not feel welcome, which aggravates the sense of isolation they feel being far away from their families in a unilingual anglophone region.
I'll conclude by citing a remark by Mr. Côté:
The onus should not be on [unilingual] recruits to understand a language with which they are unfamiliar, but on the institution to ensure that recruits are fully able to communicate in the official language they understand.
That was three years go.
You're telling me that Borden is paradise on earth for these people. Understand that this is a very significant comment. I didn't write it. When it came out in the media, you can understand why it was the subject of a meeting here. We met with Mr. Côté, and so on.
I want to know what the situation is today for a unilingual recruit—or one who has very little knowledge of English—who comes from Acadia, from Quebec or elsewhere and who goes to Borden and wants to be a soldier in the Canadian armed forces. Do they still suffer this ostracism?