Problems of a French Canadian in the armed forces

The first thing learned by French-Canadian re- cruits to Canada’s air force is English. The first thing learned by English- Canadian recruits is drill:

This is typical of what

happens when French and English Canadians

meet. French Canadians

are compelled to learn: English, although there

is no similar obligation

for English-speaking peo- .

ple to learn French. it is a situation which

permeates all federal in-»

stitutions.

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Former leading aircraftsman Guy Lavoie answers questions

CCORDING to the 1961 census, 116,295 per-.

sons were employed in the Canadian armed forces.-All these armed forces are adminis- tered by federal institutions in Ottawa, thus, since the federal government claims to repre-

sent both Canadian netions. so. by implication, .

do the navy, army and air force.

Apart from the question whether any institu- tion administered by the existing federal gov-

ernment can represent ‘both Canadian nations, ©

the accepted Liberal concept of bilingualism de- mands that they be bi-lingual. If military neces- sity prevents this, then either they would be into French-language and _ English- language units, or they would be linguistically as well as structurally a mere extension of the army of conquest with regards'the French Can- adian nation. This assumes considerable signi-

~ ficance in the light of the view commonly held

by political scientists that, excluding the popu- lar masses, the ultimate vehicles of coercion in any state are the armed forces.

It has long been a source of discontent in French Canada that the armed forces are, in fact, in large majority unilingual English. Only in the Quebec regiments of the army is bi- lingualism the rule.

At the present time, according to the Domin- ion Bureau of Statistics, 19 percent of the non- commissioned ranks and 11 percent of the of- ficers are French Canadian.

The argument often used is that nobody is compelled to join the army and, obviously, only a small portion of French Canadians do join it. But if national equality were a reality, partici- pation in the armed forces would be equal for both nations.

The following is an .interview with Guy Lavoie, a young French Canadian who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force at 17. He served for four years as a radar technician and became a leading aircraftsman. He is now a resident of Montreal.

‘What were your first experiences when you joined the air force? Guy Lavoie: Everyone goes first to St. Jean

* D’berville, Quebec. For the French there is a

_ school of English and what is called a “Man- - ning Depot.” That is where you learn drill and, . _in general, the history of the air force and what

the Canadian government is doing at that time. You went to a school of English. Did the

~English-speaking recruits go to a school of

French?

No, not at all. The minimum course, which is called the accelerated course, is for those who have some prior knowledge of English. The or- dinary course takes five months; but a person may spend seven or eight months there if he is not good at languages. I have a friend who was thrown out because he could not learn English. Now he is a teacher.

Did all the other forms of training at the base take place in English?

‘We took some exams the first week we were at St. Jean D’Iberville. On that occasion we French Canadians wrote them in French. From

that moment on everything was in English. We

never took another exam in French, although 25

‘percent of the airmen were French,

After St. Jean D’Iberville you served on other bases. What were some of your experiences?

After we had finished following a trade at St. Jean D’Iberville, we were classed and. sent to Clinton, or Borden, Ont., or one of the other bases to take a course in our trade. I went to Clinton and, as at the Manning Depot in Que- bec, it was all in English from A to Z.

Do French Canadians get on more slowly than English Canadians?

It is always easier to study in your mother tongue. I knew guys who had been in the army for five years, who would have to read engineer- ing books. They would understand all but one- eighth of the words; but that one-eighth would be the most important.

What about other aspects, such as facilities for airmen’s children?

’ Education is a big question. In all the prov- inces and in Quebec too, airmen’s children go to English school. Everywhere in Canada, all the schools on the bases are English. Even when I was in Sept Iles, which is seven-eighths French, the airforce provided no teaching in French.

Can you send the children to school off the

- base?

Oh yes, you can do that. Does it cost anything?

You have to pay something to send your chil- dren to the school, especially outside Quebec. Recently they decided to democratize things and began supplying buses. As well as the cost, you lose all the advantages of. the school on the base where the teachers and so forth are pro- vided. It is pretty hard to send a child of six or seven into town.

Are there always French-speaking schools available?

No, not necessarily. When I was on a base in British Columbia there was no French school there. There is a small French-language com- munity in Vancouver. But who is going to send his children there? It is 15-20 miles. One French- speaking teacher on the base would be enough.

Are there no French-speaking teachers at all?

We had one from New Brunswick, but he taught in English. That was his job. We had an- other who was French, but he too taught in English.

This English-only nature of the RCAF, does it apply equally to the navy and army?

It applies to the navy and air force. In the army there are regiments in Quebec which use both English and French. The rest of the army uses only English. But whatever their trade, re- cruits to the Quebec regiments still need to learn English because they are sent from here to take courses in Britain. I met some of them on trains and I knew some of them. In addition, they send some to take courses in British Col- umbia, which are completely English, and it is worse for them than for us because we were given a basic knowledge of English.

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