Official Languages Committee on Nov. 3rd, 2009

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

In garages in Quebec, they must be able to get vehicle manuals in French.

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

That's correct. Two or three things have happened.

For example, when we acquire a new piece of equipment, we ensure that the contract enables us to obtain the necessary copyright to translate the manuals. Those manuals thus become ours. As for the translation, we've hit a wall. We've achieved the maximum amount that this industry can produce in terms of translated material. At one point, we had to set priorities. That's why efforts are focused on the basic courses. Every branch has developed a plan to make all courses available in both official languages. The current policy, which has just been introduced, provides that all courses must be available. We also started with the basic courses and we were then supposed to progress. Every new courses developed in the Canadian Forces can only be given if it is available in both official languages.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

In the case of some old courses, certain instructors didn't speak French. That was a problem.

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

Yes.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

What happened to the instructors?

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

Many of them have been reassigned to schools. There's also the fact that people have to take language training and that takes time. Whatever the case may be, there has been progress.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

How much progress? We've been talking for about two years about the problems concerning the Borden Base.

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

I can tell you that all the courses on armed forces combat weapons are available in both official languages. That was not the case two years ago. In aviation, all basic courses for technicians are available in both official languages or what's called the ''franco assist''. In the navy, a lot of progress has been made on francophone assistance. As regards all other courses, you'll have the opportunity to hear from representatives of the Borden schools and the commander of the recruit school, who are here today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Mr. Godin.

Now we'll go to Ms. Glover.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Good morning and welcome.

I am honoured to meet all the men and women who are here today representing the Canadian Forces. I know what a hard job you do to protect our interests, and I thank you on behalf of my family and Canadian families.

Now we're going to talk about official languages.

I'd like you to give me an overview of the demographics of your service. Could you tell me the number of unilingual anglophones relative to the number of bilingual individuals? Do you have those figures?

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

Yes, of course. On the civilian side, there are 29,146 employees. Of that number, 6,865 are francophone and 22,281 are anglophone. So, roughly speaking, 76.5% of civilian staff are anglophone. On the military side, we have 17,766 francophones, 27%, and 47,570 anglophones, 73%. That means that of the total number of Canadian Forces personnel, approximately 27% are francophone and the percentage is approximately 23.5% on the civilian side. I believe that, based on the last census, the Canadian average is 21.8%. So we reflect that average. In fact, we exceed it slightly.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

All right, thank you very much. I'd also like to know how much money the Canadian Forces spend every year on official languages.

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

It's hard to do an accounting because every branch spends on that. However, I can tell you that the Canadian Forces spent $5.8 million on translation. As for supervised language training offered to military members and civilian staff, that involved slightly more than $22 million last year and $21 million the previous year. So there has been an increase in funding allocated to language training. It should be added that the navy, air force and army spend money to provide short-term courses.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Is the $5 million figure included in the $22 million or is it in addition to that amount?

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

It's in addition, madam.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

So it's $27 million.

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

Yes.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you very much.

I've read a number of documents on your job and your service. Something really surprised me: you were hired to maintain positive relations with francophone organizations. At Borden, more particularly, you did certain things to maintain those relations.

Can you tell me what those things were and what francophone agencies or organizations were involved?

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

The best thing will be to listen to the Borden people. The Borden commander is here. He will therefore be able to tell you, during the second hour, exactly what was done with the local community during the open houses.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Perfect, thank you very much.

[Mgén W. Semianiw]

Frankly, it's not just a matter of

being able to speak in a second language,

it's also a matter of culture.

There's a culture element to it that has to be looked at, respected, and worked with at the same time.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I like what I just heard because the French language is much more than a language; it's also based on a culture. I really like the fact that you said that.

Let's talk a little about official languages coordinators. You spoke about that a little. I'd nevertheless like to know whether you think your coordinators have enough of a profile. Do they also have enough resources to employ their workforce? Are there any other things that could be done to raise their profile?

[Col J.P.L. Meloche]

The short answer is no. As director of official languages, I would say we would definitely like more. Except that, at some point, it becomes a matter of balance with other things.

The network of official language coordinators was reinvigorated—if I can use that term—two years ago. Consequently, every branch—which we call the army, the air force—and all the assistant deputy ministers have a level 1 coordinator. From that point, a network is constructed within each organization. For example, in the army, all the bases have an official language coordinator. Then that goes down to the unit level. The visibility of official languages therefore starts at the unit level and rises to the strategic levels.

Could we do more? We've already done a lot, and we're already doing as much as we can. We can definitely always try to do more, but we have to establish and have good policies in place. I addition, what we're doing, that is to say writing and introducing policies, is really the foundation. If we don't have good clear policies, we can make all the efforts we want... Because in the armed forces, things only work if it's written down; in that case, it will get done.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

[MGen W. Semianiw]

There's one very important thing. Now, today, there are people who focus solely on the navy, the army and the air force. That wasn't the way it was done two years ago; it was just the men from my team, my men.

The official languages team tried to look into the army, the navy, and the air force to see what was happening.

Now, however, there are men who are responsible and they aren't

the official languages coordinators. I will tell you who is responsible.

It's the leadership of the Canadian Forces.

This morning, Colonel Meloche spoke with the chief of the air force concerning the program. Those men and women are the ones who are responsible.

It was not the official languages coordinators.