Evidence of meeting #3 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ircc.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Canadian Immigration Lawyer and Co-Founder of the Arenous Foundation, As an Individual
I can begin by answering the question really quickly.
A third to a quarter of tuition money is being offshored to agents who have no authorization to practise immigration for the services they provide. If that money was transferred into mental health support and into support at these schools, it would make a world of difference.
I would suggest that looking into that system is crucial to solving your problem.
Immigration Lawyer, As an Individual
I would add that what's interesting is that my conversations with—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. The time is up.
Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe, you will have a minute to ask one quick question.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I think it goes without saying that every application should be processed independently of the previous ones. I'd like to know to what extent external factors, which aren't directly related to the application, can have an impact on the refusal of the work permit application.
Since external factors come into play, does the origin of individuals not give rise to discrimination, especially in the case of applications from French‑speaking African countries?
My question is for Mr. Janssen Dangzalan.
Immigration Lawyer, As an Individual
Thank you.
External factors are very important in the analysis. The problem is that the decision‑maker doesn't have the framework for the analysis of the study permit. Again, it's a black box. Unfortunately, we don't know much about this.
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I think we will have to proceed to Ms. Kwan.
Ms. Kwan, you have one minute to ask one quick question.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
Section 22(2) on dual intent explicitly says that the intention to remain in Canada does not prevent a foreign national from becoming a temporary resident, upon proof that they'll have left Canada at the end of the authorized period of stay, yet the vast majority of the people rejected are rejected on the grounds that IRCC does not believe that they will leave at the end of their stay.
Isn't that a direct contradiction of dual intent? What action needs to be taken to fix this dual intent problem?
I'll ask Mr. Tao and then Mr. Dangzalan.
Canadian Immigration Lawyer and Co-Founder of the Arenous Foundation, As an Individual
I'll try to answer in 30 seconds.
For family ties—saying someone comes with their family members and how many family members they leave behind—and finances and all the things they need to actually study, I think that there's a mis-assessment of those factors. That's leading to dual intent refusals.
Immigration Lawyer, As an Individual
The problem with the dual intent analysis that they are using right now is that it's not as robust as it should be. The policy intervention is that they should revisit this. There should be input from the committee in terms of how this is actually laid out.
NDP
Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC
I'm sorry, I just wanted to hear Mr. Dangzalan. Did he say stakeholders?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
With this, our first panel comes to an end. On behalf of all the members of this committee, I would like to thank all our witnesses for providing important input.
If there is anything you would like to provide to the committee for their information and you were not able to speak about it because of the shortage of time, you can always send a written submission to the clerk of the committee. That will be circulated to all the members and we will take it into consideration while we draft our report.
With that, we will suspend the meeting for a few minutes, so that the sound checks can be done for our next panel.
The meeting is suspended.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I call the meeting back to order. Good morning, everyone.
We will hear from three witnesses in this panel. On behalf of all members of this committee, I would like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the committee.
We will be hearing from Alain Dupuis, director general, from the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada. The second witness for today is Martin Normand, director of strategic research and international relations, representing the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne. Our third witness for this panel is Thibault Camara, president, from Le Québec c'est nous aussi.
I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of our witnesses.
Before speaking, please wait until I recognize your name. When you are ready to speak, you can click on the microphone icon to activate your mike.
I would remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair.
Interpretation in this video conference will work very much like a regular committee meeting.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.
I welcome all our witnesses for today.
All witnesses will be provided with five minutes for their opening remarks, and then we will proceed to the round of questioning.
Alain Dupuis, you have five minutes for your opening remarks. Please proceed.
Alain Dupuis Director General, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Madam Chair, honourable members, good afternoon.
Thank you for inviting the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, the FCFA, to appear before the committee today.
I am speaking to you from Ottawa, on the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
The FCFA is the national and international voice for 2.7 million French‑speaking Canadians living in a minority situation in nine provinces and three territories. It is also the main advocate for immigration to francophone minority communities.
Since 2002, supporting the development and vitality of our communities has been part of the objectives of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In 2003, the federal government set a target of 4.4% of immigrants admitted outside Quebec being French‑speaking and settling in our communities. The government has never succeeded in reaching that target. According to the Commissioner of Official Languages, if Canada had given itself the tools to do so, it could have welcomed 76,000 French‑speaking immigrants outside Quebec since 2008.
In fact, the demographic weight of the Canadian francophonie dropped from 4.4% in 2001 to less than 3.8% in 2016. If that trend continues, Statistics Canada estimates that this proportion will fall to 3.1% by 2036.
This observation is made at a time when the Canadian francophonie is experiencing a serious labour shortage. This shortage affects all sectors. That is what makes the problem of the refusal of applications from francophones from Africa who want to study in Canada all the more frustrating.
There is, of course, a human aspect: these people invest considerable effort and resources in these applications. For them, a refusal is both incomprehensible and bitterly disappointing. These people come from the continent where 60% of the world's French speakers live, and where the French‑speaking world is set to grow dramatically by 2050. They have often attended renowned universities in their home countries. They have skills that are in demand in Canada and in our communities.
However, we are closing the doors to them. We are already creating a bottleneck. The Canadian visa office in Dakar serves a total of 16 countries and a population of 276 million people. This is one of the highest ratios for a Canadian visa office in the world.
Then there are the reasons that these applicants are given when their applications are rejected. Basically, they are told that they haven't demonstrated that they will return to their country of origin after their studies.
This approach flies in the face of the government's objectives for francophone immigration and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It is incomprehensible that the government isn't instead trying to retain these students and encourage them to become permanent residents, so that they can enhance the vitality of the Canadian francophonie. These visa refusals are the kind of small gestures that help to erode francophone and Acadian communities, instead of contributing to their development.
It also illustrates how the 4.4% target for francophone immigration is not sufficiently part of the department's overall priorities. To achieve this target, a francophone lens with numerical targets must be applied to all potential avenues to immigration, including international students, temporary workers, refugees and family reunification.
Today, we recommend the following four elements.
First, we recommend a review of the eligibility criteria for student visas using a francophone and geographic lens, in order to identify and correct systemic discrimination that might exist against French‑speaking African students.
Second, we recommend a substantial increase in visa processing capacity in French‑speaking African countries to facilitate application processing.
Third, we recommend that a directive be issued to all Canadian visa offices reminding them of the government's obligations with respect to francophone immigration and the objective of encouraging the retention of these students in Canada after they graduate.
Fourth, we recommend making permanent the temporary bridge opened in 2021 between temporary and permanent residence for French‑speaking people who want to settle outside Quebec.
Essentially, we're asking that the measures in place for processing student visas support Canada's francophone immigration objectives rather than hinder them. We're asking for consistency from the Government of Canada.
Director General, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you, Mr. Dupuis.
Mr. Normand, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks. You can please proceed.
Martin Normand Director, Strategic Research and International Relations, Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne
Thank you.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee.
The Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne, or ACUFC, represents 22 francophone or bilingual post‑secondary institutions located in eight provinces. Our international activities are carried out in three phases, including marketing positioning, supporting the recruitment of international clients, and reaching out to federal institutions with international mandates to promote the reality of our network of institutions.
In a statement, on December 1, 2021, we indicated that ACUFC member institutions were experiencing the same difficulties as Quebec institutions in getting French‑speaking international students who had been confirmed for admission to Canada. Moreover, this situation has been documented within our network for a long time. For example, some institutions began receiving financial support from the federal government for international recruitment after 2006. However, they were quickly confronted with the problem we are discussing today. Many of the students they recruited during these events and who were given offers of admission were denied their study permits.
Institutions don't always know why their offers of admission don't materialize into registrations, unless those who have been turned down let them know, which of course not all of them do. Other avenues will have to be explored to compile this data, but the partial picture we are starting to paint is telling.
I'll give you the example of the undergraduate programs in the last five years of one of our institutions. Of all the applications for which an offer of admission was made, 77% of the applications from African countries did not translate into registrations, while the proportion fell to 39% for students from other countries. In short, African applications do not translate into registrations twice as often as those of students from other countries. The reason why the rate of conversion of offers into registrations is so low for African countries is because study permits have been refused.
One of the contentious issues in the assessment of files is the possibility of remaining in Canada after graduation. We and our institutions are encouraged by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, to promote the possibility of applying for permanent residence upon graduation, particularly to meet identified labour needs and to support government efforts to meet the francophone immigration target.
Frequently, the reason used for rejecting applications for study permits is that the applicant cannot demonstrate through their file that they intend to leave Canada at the end of their stay. You'll understand that the repeated use of this reason for refusing a study permit isn't at all consistent with the message we're being asked to convey abroad.
However, another element specific to our network of institutions must be added to this situation: its lack of knowledge in the public system. Institutions have told us that applications have been refused because the officer assessing the file didn't consider that wanting to study in French outside Quebec was a legitimate course of action. This is a substantial disadvantage that can have significant consequences for our institutions.
Reputational risks may result from this situation. On the one hand, our member institutions put their own reputations on the line when they recruit internationally, but people who engage in the process and receive admissions are refused entry. On the other hand, a lot of international recruitment is done under the umbrella of the EduCanada brand, which is part of Global Affairs Canada. This brand also carries reputational risks when people who see it as a sign of trust are disappointed and have to rethink their education plans.
Our analyses show that despite long‑standing government policies and inquiry, francophone candidates wishing to study in French in Canada and post‑secondary institutions in a minority francophone context [Technical difficulty—Editor]. Only political and administrative intervention will solve this problem.
That's why we recommend that the Privy Council Office, together with Global Affairs Canada, IRCC and other relevant departments, work to implement a coherent and systemic approach to ensure substantive equality in the Canadian government's handling of applications from international students wishing to study in French at post‑secondary institutions in francophone minority settings.
If the committee wishes, we would be happy to present some of the avenues to be considered in defining this approach.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
Thank you, Mr. Normand, for your presentation.
Mr. Camara, you will have five minutes for your opening remarks.
Thibault Camara President, Le Québec c’est nous aussi
Good afternoon, Madam Chair. I am speaking to you from Montreal, which is located on the unceded traditional territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka nation.
I'd like to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration for the opportunity to present the recommendations of our organization, Le Québec c'est nous aussi. We are a non-profit organization working to defend the rights and living conditions of immigrants in Quebec by voicing the concerns of our communities in a non-partisan manner, promoting immigration in Quebec society and creating the conditions needed to build a diverse and inclusive Quebec.
Today, I am speaking on behalf of tens of thousands of people who are facing injustice, unreasonable delays and arbitrary decisions by a department that no longer seems to have the means to achieve its ambitions. My voice is surely louder and more emotional, because we live these dramas alongside members of our community, and I want to describe their distress as best I can.
Today, we're talking about the extremely high study permit refusal rates for francophone students from certain African countries. Initially, I want to focus on the underlying reason for refusal, which is that Canada does not believe these students will leave the country after their studies. Therefore, the officer applies section 179(b) of the immigration and refugee protection regulations, to the letter.
At the same time, Canada is doing everything in its power to ensure that international students remain here after graduation using tools specifically designed to support the retention of international students, such as post-graduation work permits and programs like—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Salma Zahid
I'm sorry for interrupting. Can I please ask you to stop for a second?
Mr. Camara, would you speak a bit slower, because the interpreters are having difficulty getting your speech for the interpretation. Thank you.