About seven or eight years ago, Quebec increased its requirements regarding the knowledge of French as a criterion for permanent immigration. The result was somewhat surprising. The number of French-speaking immigrants began to decline. This confirms an observation by the Fédération. We feel that imposing overly high standards on applicants with respect to the knowledge of French eliminates perfectly valid candidacies. We thus believe that lower requirements would be preferable, while investments and francization efforts in the workplace could be stepped up.
Francization in the workplace is also a matter of partnership, particularly with school boards, training centres and colleges. In many cases, SMEs do not have the in-house resources they would need to organize French classes. However, by creating partnerships at the community level, the provision of francization services can be improved.