Mr. Speaker, I want to discuss the status of official languages, particularly in the Department of National Defence and in the Canadian Armed Forces. In recent months, and especially since the closure of the military college in Saint-Jean, a lot has been said on the current language situation in the armed forces, as well as on the somewhat idealistic intentions and promises of the defence minister concerning the future of French in the armed forces.
In 1963, through the royal commission on bilingualism, Prime Minister Pearson made substantial changes to the drafting of the Official Languages Act. As early as 1966, General Allard, who was the first French-Canadian to become Chief of Staff, published directives recognizing the equal status of the French and English languages in the armed forces, as well as the right of every person to serve his country in his own language.
At the time, the Canadian forces were spearheading the linguistic efforts which were to follow in federal institutions. In 1972, these efforts resulted in the first official languages plan for the armed forces. This was a 15-year plan. Unfortunately, in 1987, it was discovered that several objectives had not been reached, in spite of all the good intentions and valiant efforts. That same year, a new 15-year plan, to 2002, was drafted.
In November 1992, a report commissioned by the then-Minister of Defence again found flagrant and near-unresolvable shortcomings. Here again, with a great deal of good will, the armed forces had prepared incentive standards and changes in their official languages plan and its implementation. Unfortunately, we must now face the following facts: 40 out of68 military-career-related courses are given in both languages-4 out of 4 military training courses, 9 out of 14 for the navy, 8 out of 14 for the air force, and 19 out of the 36 courses applicable to all three branches of the armed forces. It goes without saying that all 68 courses are available in English.
There is also a shortage of French-language military training manuals, and bilingual instructors are in short supply; the majority of bilingual instructors are Francophones. The number of bilingual Anglophones even declined from 1972 to the end of 1993. The number of bilingual Anglophones has now slipped to 4,200 from 5,000 in 1972. In the officers' ranks, 18 per cent of senior officers are Francophones-all of them functionally bilingual. Only 12 per cent of anglophone officers are bilingual, and most learned French at the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean.
It is impossible for me to list, in so little time, all of the shortcomings that exist, but I observed first-hand, during meetings and visits with the joint defence committee, that the army operates in English, and in both languages in Quebec. At the base in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, all of the briefings given to the defence committee were in one language only: English. So let us, once and for all, be realistic. Fine principles are laid out and dreams that, despite little success in the past-although commendable efforts were made, I must admit-this time, according to the minister, it will be allright.
Unfortunately, the decision to close the military college in Saint-Jean will only exacerbate the problems which have been noted in the application of the department's fine principles. For us, it is just one more piece of evidence that the gulf between the two founding peoples continues to widen and that the present government seems to take perverse pleasure in widening that gulf through its harebrained decision to close the military college in Saint-Jean, which represented hope for the official languages in the Canadian armed forces.