Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2023

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

More generally, under the current system, what authority does Canada have over the visa application centres, since they're all run by private companies, such as VFS Global?

Does Canada have the jurisdiction to increase the number of visa application centres in African countries?

If we want to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants in the country, shouldn't Canada take over the processing of visa applications?

[Olivier Jacques]

VFS Global is a private company that provides us with visa application centre services. It has contractual obligations towards Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canadian government.

Therefore, we have some control over this private company, and we can open other offices. We can ask this private company to open other visa application centres elsewhere in the world, if we're prepared to make the financial contribution required.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

In our view, if we're serious about meeting these ambitious targets, Canada is going to have to take the lead and take back the essential services that have been privatized and that contribute directly to the recruitment, reception, and immigration process of francophones.

My last question—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Your six minutes are up, Ms. Ashton. It goes by very quickly. You'll have an opportunity to continue the discussion later.

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Desruisseaux, with regard to what Mr. Jacques said, we've noted for several years that it was difficult for immigrants to access immigration offices, as my colleague Ms. Ashton just said. I give the example of Reunion Island. Reunion Island's population is young, and it's an extremely important and interesting pool, not only for people who would like to come and study in Canada, but also for workers who want to immigrate to Canada. The problem was that people had to go to Paris to provide their biometric data. I don't know if that's still the case, but it was in some French-speaking places, like Reunion Island.

Are we looking at giving these people services closer to them so that we can count on this important pool? I think the average age is 35 or 40, or even under 35.

Do you have anything like that planned? You can promote as much as you want in many countries, but if you don't provide services close to these people so that they can take the necessary steps, it becomes a very significant obstacle.

[Alain Desruisseaux]

Mr. Jacques, would you like to answer this question?

[Olivier Jacques]

Residents of Reunion Island have to actually provide their biometric data and have their photograph taken at a visa application centre. They can provide their biometric data in any country or visa application centre. They don't have to travel to Paris. The closest centre to Reunion Island is in Mauritius. To get there, you have to take a 45-minute flight and spend a few hundred dollars. However, I agree that this is an additional step that residents of Reunion Island must take in order to hope to study, work or immigrate to Canada.

Canada could consider opening a visa application centre on Reunion Island. However, we need to see how many applications there are and whether it's profitable for private enterprise to open such a centre on this island. I know this was studied in the past, and the number of requests proved insufficient.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I'll come back to what Mr. Desruisseaux said earlier.

If francophone immigration is adequately promoted, and Canada is present to facilitate recruitment, this would inevitably generate applications and encourage the growth of francophone immigration.

There are still a lot of young people who have come to Canada. I've met many of them, who are still here. They came to study, especially at Quebec CEGEPs. They went to study in the Lower St. Lawrence, where many of them eventually put down roots. They became Canadian citizens, and they participate in the Canadian economy. So that's kind of what we're aiming for, in principle.

My next question is for the three of you.

What could the Standing Committee on Official Languages do to help you do your job, to ensure that we reach the targets, whether yours or those of the FCFA, of 12%, 15% or 20% of francophone immigrants?

[Alain Desruisseaux]

The committee has already done a lot of work, particularly with Bill C-13. The requirements are quite clear.

The work ahead of us certainly concerns IRCC. Despite all the progress of the last few years, it's true that there's still a lot of work to do. However, all this work involves many other players and many other federal partners. Positive action is going to be critical.

When we meet with people on the ground, people who provide services to newcomers and people in the communities, they often tell us about concerns related to the issue of housing and access to child care, school services and health services. These are obviously services that are essential and that play a role not only in attracting people, but also in retaining them in the communities.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Desruisseaux.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, witnesses, for being with us today.

Thank you very much, Ms. Boyer, for participating in our meeting. It's been so long since we've seen each other, as Mr. Godin mentioned. We were missing you and we thought it would be appropriate to invite you. In fact, Mr. Godin just told me that you are part of the family.

On a more serious note, I don't necessarily want to talk about the countries that Canada is targeting for francophone immigration, but rather about the needs that we have in our communities. We need to determine our needs and the needs of the Canadian Francophonie, particularly in the areas of early childhood and education. We know that there's a labour shortage in early childhood, which exists everywhere in the Canadian Francophonie. I'll let my other colleagues talk about the Quebec Francophonie, with all due respect.

Yesterday, for example, Canada announced the extension of the agri-food pilot program, which will make it possible to determine where the needs are in our communities. It will also facilitate access to permanent residence.

Is it possible to do the same things within the Francophonie? Are we able to establish the needs in collaboration with the authorities and organizations on the ground, and then turn to IRCC? People often point fingers at you and say that the department isn't doing its job, but I'm not sure where we can go to get francophone immigrants and what exactly our needs are.

Do you agree that it's important to determine what our needs are in all communities in all provinces, from one end of Canada to the other?

[Alain Desruisseaux]

Yes, I totally agree with that.

A better knowledge of labour needs will facilitate the way we target our recruitment efforts, for example. It'll allow us to know where we need to make efforts to fine-tune the selection process. I'm also thinking of ways to match the needs of communities and employers with those of international applicants who have already begun the process of determining where they want to settle.

Last fall, Mr. Jacques and I went to Rabat, Morocco, for Destination Canada. I spoke with prospective immigrants. The question that came up most often was about labour needs. They wanted to know what we could offer them. Among them were people specialized in the health field as well as teachers.

Some of the needs were very well defined in the public consultations, but we want to know what the communities' needs are, because they have their own specific needs.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We know that some communities have major problems in terms of health and education.

Is there good communication between our education system, the provinces and IRCC? Could we improve it?

How can we better determine the needs in the communities? Cameroon was mentioned earlier, and you mentioned Morocco. How do we target our efforts there, especially if there is no embassy or if there are geographical barriers, for example? Here we're lucky; we have highways 401, 416 and 40, so travel is easy. However, I know this isn't the case in some countries, where even air travel is complicated. I sometimes hear that people from Gabon have to go through Cameroon first to get to Dakar. They need money to get there, just to immigrate to Canada or to get a visa.

How do we tie all these elements together and improve the process to facilitate francophone immigration?

[Alain Desruisseaux]

First, the process can certainly be improved. It involves a number of players, and co-operation is essential. Many efforts have been made to improve this. I'm thinking in particular of the efforts that have been made to build bridges with the communities themselves and to ensure that the work corresponds to their needs. The FCFA is very supportive of that, in terms of aligning our efforts with the needs of the communities.

On the federal-provincial front, there is a lot of discussion at the Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration table, and there will be more. There's also a lot of discussion at the table of the Ministerial Council on the Canadian Francophonie, or MCCF.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Mr. Desruisseaux.

There are two and a half minutes left before we have to suspend to go and vote, and I have two questions for you, colleagues. Since everyone is sitting at the table—virtually, in the case of Ms. Ashton—I'll ask you the first one.

Is there unanimous consent to resume the meeting immediately after the vote?

Everyone is in agreement.

Secondly, we've lost a little bit of time because of the voting, but we could extend the meeting until 6:00 p.m. Do we agree to extend the meeting?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

No, Mr. Chair.

We can go until 5:45 p.m. at the latest.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay.

I'll extend the meeting as long as possible.

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We've talked about inviting the witnesses back, but I don't want us to do it for 15 minutes. It would be a waste of time.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, I understand.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, I've done the math, and I think we should end the testimony for today, because we have to discuss our business after the meeting. We've heard 36 minutes of comments from our guests, which means we're 84 minutes short.

So I'd suggest that we end our guests' testimony and take an hour and a half at another meeting to make up for that lost time, ideally Friday. I find this very interesting, and it's their testimony that will form the basis of our study. If they're not available, we'll understand. It's the clerk's job to arrange that.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Are you available on Friday? Is there a consensus around the table?

Ms. Ashton, you've indicated that you're okay with that. That's fine.

Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm going to suspend the meeting so we can go to the vote.

Witnesses, you are—

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Am I going to get my turn back at the next meeting?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

No, we can't do that. We're going to start from the beginning, which is even better for you, because you're going to have another six-minute round.