Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 17th, 2019

[Natasha Kim]

Maybe I'll just clarify that the Atlantic immigration pilot is also a permanent residence pilot. It is based on permanent residence; it's not a temporary residence program.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

So it's not a “stay there for six months and apply” thing. It's not like the temporary foreign worker program.

[Natasha Kim]

No, there is an opportunity to come on a temporary basis while you're preparing your application under that program, but you need a letter of support from the province to do that.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

One of the things Manitoba has—and it's been acknowledged here—is a pretty decent provincial nominee program. I think you looked at that yourselves.

Instead of a new pilot program being set up, could it have been set up so that there were just more spots made available to the Manitoba provincial nominee program? Was that given any consideration? Why wouldn't that sort of thing work?

[Natasha Kim]

I think Manitoba is our oldest provincial nominee partner, and it has done amazing things in this space.

The provincial nominee program overall has increased substantially over the last few years in order to give provinces and territories that opportunity to use their immigration programs for their own regional economic development needs. To complement that, we really wanted to test something a little bit different. We started with the Atlantic immigration pilot. That's ongoing, and we're learning lessons every day on that one.

This one is doing something slightly different, and we hope we're going to take the lessons learned from both pilots, from what provinces and territories are doing, and really share those lessons among us so that we can see what is really the best approach to using immigration for economic and social benefits.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

From the flow chart you've given us on the rural and northern immigration pilot, from the time they start being selected and communities want the individuals to work, or a business does, what sort of time frame is there to get to the point where, on this job template of yours, you're looking at the key with the house on it and the words, “Candidate obtains Permanent Residence”? There is a period of time in there, then, that is required to make sure they meet all of the criteria first before they get their permanent residency.

I can see they're permanent residents once they get the job, but there has been a lot of background material here to get to that point. How different is that, then, from what has already been set up?

[Lara Dyer]

I think that would really depend on the communities themselves. Some of them have some experience already with immigration processes, and others have less. We really want to work with them and not rush them along in their process, so that will depend a little bit on the community. They're all anxious to get going, and we are committed to providing them the support they need.

I think Natasha said earlier that we're not expecting any landings until 2020, but we are hoping that some of the communities will start receiving applications sometime in the fall.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

One of the criteria is the language levels, and I am very worried that.... My colleague just asked, and I'll ask the question for her again. It's just the situation that the present resources are stretched to the limit and we're now going to put more of these into these 11 communities. You're saying there is no more availability for help in those areas, or will these communities be given some more support in relation to the fact that they are a pilot project?

[Natasha Kim]

Maybe I can give a bit of an overview of the types of support these communities will have. From our department in particular they will have the training that we provide. They will have the support and contact with us that can also connect them into the rest of the government.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Just for clarity, is that after they become permanent residents, or before?

[Natasha Kim]

This is to help the communities administer the pilot.

For the individuals coming through, certainly the community partner will be there to connect them with the right supports on the ground. As my colleague explained in response to a previous question, there is flexibility for us to use settlement funding that's actually in place to respond to needs as they arise.

Would you like an elaboration on that, Mr. Chair?

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Yes, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

We only have about 15 seconds to go, so if Ms. Prince could provide us with a slight elaboration, we can then move to Madame Lapointe.

[Corinne Prince]

I think it's important to know that, depending on the job offer and where that job is in the national occupation classification system, the language requirement for the individual in this pilot varies. For national occupation classification system level C and D jobs, we are requiring a Canadian language benchmark 4 level. If we go to the higher-skilled level, NOC level A, we are requiring a Canadian language benchmark 6. It's kind of a varying scale, depending on the job required and where that fits into the classification system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

Thank you, Ms. Prince.

The last opportunity goes to Madam Lapointe.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

How much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

You can ask questions until the bell rings, probably in a few minutes.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses, who gave very interesting presentations. I'm not a regular member of this committee. I'm replacing someone. However, for two and a half years, I sat on the Standing Committee on Official Languages, where one issue was francophone immigration outside Quebec.

I thought that the francophone immigration target was 4.5%, but my colleague told me that it was 4.4%. You said that you selected 11 of the 50 communities that applied based on the francophonie, diversity and geography.

What's your francophone immigration target for these 11 communities?

[Corinne Prince]

It was a factor, of course. We ensure that French-speaking immigrants and refugees can settle and integrate into francophone communities across Canada, outside Quebec, and that the communities can provide all the necessary services to help them.

You may be aware that Canadian Heritage recently launched an action plan for official languages. The plan allocates $40.8 million over five years to our department for francophone immigration initiatives, to ensure that immigrants can access services in the communities where they want to settle.

French-speaking immigrants must also be able to take language training, not only in English, but also in French, if they want a job that requires a higher level of French.

[Natasha Kim]

I'll add something.

The selected communities include Timmins, which has a large francophone population. I think that 53% of its population is francophone. There's also Moose Jaw, a host community that provides services in French.

[Lara Dyer]

I'll add another point.

We've been discussing another aspect with the communities. We're asking them about their targets and how they want to achieve them.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

We were told that the overall target was 4.4% francophone immigration outside Quebec. Have you selected cities, such as Sudbury, Timmins or North Bay, based on their French-speaking population? You said that 53% of the population of Timmins is francophone. With this pilot project, do you expect to see at least 53% francophone immigration, to prevent the erosion of francophone communities outside Quebec?

[Lara Dyer]

All the communities were selected because they have the ability to support French-speaking immigrants as a result of their francophone population. This will certainly help us meet the national targets, which we'll establish by discussing the matter with the communities concerned.

[The Chair, Liberal, Nick Whalen]

Thank you, everyone.

I'd like to thank the officials for coming today and providing us with this briefing on the announced 11 new rural communities that will participate in the rural northern immigration pilot.

For committee members, this will now adjourn our 167th meeting and our last regularly scheduled meeting of the 42nd Parliament. I invite members to stay to meet a German delegation that is here to discuss the integration of immigrants and refugees into the labour market, and how to best attract a skilled labour force to Canada, including persons with disabilities in this challenge. If you could let the clerk know if you intend to stay, we can arrange the room accordingly.

The meeting is adjourned.