Evidence of meeting #13 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was castonguay.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Good morning, and welcome to the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee on Official Languages.
9 a.m.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order.
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Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Because a certain hockey team won the game last night, I think that
it would be a big mistake for our committee not to acknowledge that.
9 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Well, I am going to exercise my privileges as Chair to say that I accept and support your point of order.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3), this is a study of immigration as a development tool in official language minority communities.
This morning, we are meeting for the second time as part of our study on--
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Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Mr. Chairman, pardon me for interrupting, but we have no audio on this side.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Okay.
I was saying that, as part of our second meeting on immigration as a development tool for official language minority communities, we have three experts appearing before us this morning. The first is already here. So, I think we can start to break the ice right away. He is adjunct professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Ottawa. We are delighted to welcome Mr. Charles Castonguay.
Good morning, Mr. Castonguay. Welcome to the Committee. I invite you to make your opening statement.
9 a.m.
Prof. Charles Castonguay Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Ottawa, As an Individual
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
If memory serves me, it was the former Commissioner of Official Languages, Ms. Dyane Adam, who was one of the first to have the idea--
I will be reading a statement in English because I know that if I start to improvise, I will go beyond the 10 minutes I am allowed.
She had the idea of attracting francophone immigrants to bolster francophone minorities outside of Quebec. If one examines the studies upon which Madame Adam based her policy, they raise doubts as to the soundness of that policy.
The paper I am summarizing for you now appeared in the publication INROADS in 2008. I have copies, if you are interested. An earlier version also appeared in the publication Francophonies d'Amérique in French. I will be making my opening comments in English, but of course, during the question period, anything goes.
One of the studies that underlie Madame Adam's enthusiasm for the subject was prepared by Jack Jedwab, who will be with us later, I suppose. It shows that the adoption of English as the main home language reaches 50% among francophone immigrants, so French mother tongue immigrants from abroad, after only 10 years of residence in a province outside Quebec....
Jedwab also showed that Quebec's share of francophone immigration was lower than the relative weight of Quebec's francophone population within the total population of the francophone population of Canada. So right off the bat, if francophone immigrants outside Quebec assimilate so rapidly to English, while at the same time Quebec's francophone population doesn't receive its fair share of francophone immigrants to Canada, a policy encouraging even more francophones to immigrate outside Quebec doesn't look like such a good idea.
In my research, Jedwab worked with the 1996 census data. I had access to 2001 data for my French paper and 2006 data for my most recent paper in English. I found, first of all, that of the 48,000 francophones who had immigrated to Canada between 2001 and 2006, 80% were enumerated in Quebec at the 2006 census and 20% were in the rest of Canada.
Since Quebec's francophones currently weigh in at 86% of the total francophone population of Canada, as far as Quebec's share of recent francophone immigration to Canada is concerned, Quebec thus appears shortchanged indeed. In other words, the rest of Canada is already doing better than Quebec in terms of francophone immigration. This corroborates what Jedwab found using 1996 data.
I also found that within a given province outside of Quebec, the power of assimilation of English is approximately of the same order among francophones from abroad as among those born in Canada. With the exception of New Brunswick, anglicization rates of immigrant francophones are, as a rule, higher than 50%. This means that right from the very first generation, francophones from abroad contribute more to the rest of Canada's English-speaking population than to its French-speaking population. This basically corroborates Jedwab's other finding.
I examined this second point more closely by looking at the situation in several key census metropolitan areas. I found that by the age of 45, francophones from abroad contribute more to the English-speaking population than to the French-speaking population in all the metropolitan areas outside the bilingual belt. The bilingual belt runs basically from Moncton to Sault Ste. Marie, and it essentially comprises the Acadian part of New Brunswick as well as eastern and northern Ontario. It's a concept we became aware of at the time of the Laurendeau-Dunton commission. It's the neighbouring areas outside the province of Quebec that have a high percentage of francophones.
So in all the CMAs outside the bilingual belt, I repeat, by the age of 45, the assimilation of francophones to English is over 50%. In this regard, the three CMAs that stand out as exceptions to this rule are in the bilingual belt; namely, Moncton, Ottawa, and Sudbury are the only large urban centres outside Quebec where francophone newcomers are more than just a flash in the pan.
If the contribution of immigration to the francophone populations outside Quebec is to be optimized, the bilingual belt stands out as the obvious destination to favour.
Like allophones, francophones who immigrate beyond the belt are evidently more bent on bettering their lot by shifting to English than on bolstering the floundering demographics of the flimsier French-speaking minorities.
Shortly after the 2006 census, Statistics Canada carried out a survey on the linguistic vitality of francophones outside of Quebec. Statistics Canada found that a distinctly francophone identity remains well rooted solely in the bilingual belt portions of the rest of Canada. Their francophone populations are the only ones to offer a sound enough stock upon which francophone immigration can be viably grafted.
Actually, the picture was clear right from the start. At the time of the Laurendeau-Dunton commission, when the reality of the bilingual belt was first recognized, it has simply become clearer, with the passage of time and the accumulation of evidence outside Quebec, that it is only within the bilingual belt--regions of New Brunswick and Ontario--that the retention of French as the main home language remains reasonably high, that francophones retain a sufficiently distinct identity, and that French still pays off enough in the workplace.
The national unity imperative has no doubt clouded the perception of this reality. Saving face vis-à-vis public opinion in Quebec has led, among other things, to the giddy concept of sustainable assimilation. This is the concept that is developed at Canadian Heritage. Presumably even an assimilation rate of 90% can be sustained if a sufficiently large stream of francophones or francophone immigrants is steadily poured into the linguistic melting pot. The problem with a contrivance of this kind is that it does nothing to enhance the long-term viability of French in Canada as a whole. The contribution of immigration to the francophone populations beyond the bilingual belt is ephemeral.
Nor should the needs of Quebec be ignored. As we have seen, Quebec is not receiving its fair share of francophone immigration to Canada, and Quebec francophones have just been jolted by a sharp drop in their share of the population in Montreal as well as in the whole of the province of Quebec. In fact, anglophone immigration to Quebec has helped the anglophone share of Quebec's population to remain stable during the 2001-2006 period. Despite Quebec's continued efforts to recruit more francophone immigrants, the recent contribution of international immigration to the province's anglophone minority was, proportionally speaking, more than double its contribution to the francophone majority.
Furthermore, francization of anglophone immigrants in Quebec is non-existent, so that anglophone immigration contributes, in full measure, to the English-speaking population of the province. Indeed, the growth rate of the English-speaking population of Quebec between 2001 and 2006 was higher in Montreal and in the whole of the province than that of the French-speaking population. Given this new state of affairs--and this is a first in Canadian census history; we have never seen this before. The relative weight of English as a mother-tongue population--those are the statistics for which we have the longest series of historical data--has always decreased since Confederation. Given this new state of affairs, it is conceivable that more may be actually done to foster Canadian unity and to allay francophone fears of becoming a minority in the only province where they are a majority. More may be conceivably done to foster Canadian unity by encouraging francophone immigration to Quebec rather than to massively English-speaking destinations outside the bilingual belt.
The overarching objective of any policy on francophone immigration should be to sustain a viable francophone population in Canada as a whole. Since francophone immigrants are in relatively short supply, they should be guided toward the francophone populations that have the highest linguistic vitality. This means towards Quebec and the bilingual belt portions of New Brunswick and Ontario.
The cosmetic use of francophone immigration to maintain the illusion of viable francophone minorities, coast to coast to coast, boils down to wasting a precious resource. It's high time Canadian language policy faces up to reality.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
You have set the table for a good discussion among Committee members. Because our other two witnesses have not yet started, we will immediately begin to—I am almost tempted to say—“grill” you, starting with Mr. Bélanger.
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Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Do you know what has happened to our other two witnesses?
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Conservative
9:15 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mrs. Isabelle Dumas
The other two witnesses informed me that they would be arriving late this morning, either because they were taking the train or driving.
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Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Is there a snow storm or what? Ah, ah!
Mr. Castonguay, you are true to form--
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Excuse me, Mr. Bélanger, but I am told that another witness has just arrived. We are going to give her time to get settled in.
9:15 a.m.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
No problem. Whatever you feel is best. I guess you would like us to pause for a few moments?
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
No, no. Go ahead.
Ms. Lamarre, please come and be seated. We will begin with you.
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Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I think it would have been helpful for Ms. Lamarre and Mr. Jedwab to hear Mr. Castonguay's comments. Perhaps that would have stimulated some debate among our witnesses; but that will not be the case.
What would you like us to do?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
I think we should go ahead and hear the witnesses. They will have an opportunity to hear your questions, for example.
We will continue with the opening statements, Mr. Bélanger.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
I would like to welcome our two new witnesses, who are arriving right in the thick of things. We have already begun the meeting. Mr. Castonguay made his opening statement, and if one of you is prepared to start, I would invite you to do so now.
I see that Ms. Lamarre--
9:15 a.m.
Patricia Lamarre Associate Professor, Joint responsibility (languages) for the Centre of Ethnic Studies, Faculty of Education, Université de Montréal, As an Individual
I would really appreciate being given a brief summary.
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Conservative
