Good morning, Madam Chair and committee members.
My name is Léonie Tchatat. I represent La Passerelle, an organization that has been supporting francophone immigrants from Black and racialized communities for 28 years.
One central question guides my remarks this morning. Canada knows how to attract people, but does it know how to integrate them and retain them in the long term? Progress has been made, partly thanks to the 9% target for francophone immigration outside Quebec by 2026, but success depends on what happens after people arrive.
The reality on the ground is clear. Black and racialized francophone immigrants face economic, systemic and language barriers. Racialized francophone youth are two to three times more likely to live in poverty. Some groups have unemployment rates exceeding 20%. This is not due to a lack of skills. It is due to an integration problem. That must be clearly articulated. Racism is a real barrier, particularly when it comes to employment, housing and access to services. Francophone immigration will not be fully successful if racism continues to be treated as a peripheral issue.
Canada is good at selecting talent, but once people arrive, they run into several persistent obstacles, such as credential recognition, the requirement for Canadian work experience, administrative delays, or the housing crisis. The entry system is effective, but integration remains an uneven process.
In Ontario, these challenges are amplified by the minority francophone context, where access to French-language services remains limited. When the system fails to deliver, organizations step in. We support thousands of people every day at La Passerelle, but the needs far exceed our capacity.
In 2025, we opened Agapanthe, the first francophone transition house for Black refugees of African descent. This is a significant step forward, but it also highlights gaps in the system.
Moreover, the asylum system remains complex and difficult to navigate, which makes people's situations even more precarious. Yet these communities are essential to Canada's future. Nearly half of Toronto's francophones were born abroad. Their success is a strategic issue.
Today, we have an immigration strategy, but we still lack a fair integration strategy. I therefore propose four courses of action: accelerate the recognition of diplomas; invest in tailored integration models; explicitly incorporate the fight against racism as an integration and retention lever in Canada's francophone communities; and measure success through concrete results in terms of employment, housing and retention.
In closing, I would say that an immigration policy is successful when people can live with dignity and fully contribute to society. Immigration has to work for everyone.