Official Languages Committee on April 27th, 2010

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Go ahead, Mrs. Glover.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to go back to the will we were talking about, regarding the question that we could perhaps ask in the census.

I think this is quite important for our immigrants. A number of immigrants back home speak not only an African language, but English and French as well. Since the census will ask the question one way, they will answer that they speak English. And yet they speak both English and French, and based on that answer they will not be counted among the people who are entitled to French-language services. That's what troubles me a great deal. It's troubling not only for immigrants, but also for Canadians.

You talked about a will. There was some question of a will regarding the question suggested by Mrs. Boucher. We should ask who wants French-language services rather than ask people whether they were born francophone, whether French is their mother tongue and so on.

How could we emphasize that will? To whom do we speak to demonstrate that will? We want a question to be asked so that we can count all those who want to receive French-language services. How do we do that?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

I'm going to answer you by going back to what Mr. Nadeau and Mr. Godin said. You have to be aware that this can also be a doubled-edged sword. If we ask people whether they want French-language services and a not negligible number of francophones answer that it's not particularly important for them, what do we do? The question is nevertheless worth asking, I believe. Some people can no longer carry on a conversation in French, but are still considered by some as belonging to the francophone community because French is their mother tongue. However, the possibility that those people will request French-language services is very low. On the other hand, people may request French-language services when they are not considered francophones.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I completely agree with Mr. Godin that rights holders should not have their rights withdrawn. We could ask those who are not identified as rights holders whether, since they are bilingual, they want to receive French-language services, even though their mother tongue is not French.

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

Some thinking is currently being done at Statistics Canada, but, as you know, cost recovery is often an issue in surveys at Statistics Canada. One survey is very important at Statistics Canada, and that's the General Social Survey. Every year, we address a variety of themes such as victimization, social networks and so on. Of course this is possible, to the extent that we can insert a number of specific questions in a survey. Those who fund these surveys must simply want to insert those kind of questions. The General Social Survey involves a sample of nearly 25,000 persons.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Chairman, I therefore suggest that the committee determine whether it wishes to push this matter further. I don't know whether we want to discuss it another day, in committee only, or whether everyone already agrees that it is reasonable, relevant and feasible. I leave it to you to determine when we address the subject. Can you ask the question right away?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

I think the question will definitely be addressed when we write and approve a report.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That's it.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Mr. Godin asked whether he could speak for a few minutes.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like to ask a question about immigrants who attend university. Do you know how many of them do not go back to their country of origin and ask to stay here in Canada?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

I don't have the number in mind, but I can tell you that, since the 2006 Census, we have been asking where people earned their highest degree. So we can determine where they were five years earlier. However, the big challenge for the census is emigration, which we can't get a handle on. Here I'm talking about people who leave the country. When we conduct the census, they are no longer here to tell us that they were in Quebec or Ontario five years earlier.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I'm not talking about the ones who leave, but the ones who stay.

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

In the 2006 or 2011 Census, we are able to ask where they earned their highest degree. Some say it was in Canada. Then we ask them how long they have been in Canada, and they answer three years, for example. That at least enables us to obtain information indirectly on the number of people who have earned that degree. Those who earned it outside Canada—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Can the question be asked more directly?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

What do you mean?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Can we simply ask them what made them come to Canada?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

That would be a bit difficult in the context of the census, but it would be possible as part of a survey. That type of question was asked during the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

At the Université de Moncton, they've made considerable efforts to attract immigrations.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

Thank you.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

I had a question on immigrants at the universities. In Quebec City, we have the Université Laval, where an enormous number of Africans are registered. There are a lot of immigrants in my constituency. These people, who are already very highly educated before they arrive and who go to university, have even more trouble finding a job. You mentioned that earlier. That's a provincial government matter, but what could we do at the federal level to make those immigrants stay here? Have you previously studied the immigrant retention aspect?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Mauril Bélanger]

We'll let Mr. Houle answer that.

[René Houle]

In fact, foreign students are not immigrants.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

They're not?

[René Houle]

These people come to Canada to study, and we give them study permits.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

All right, I understand.