Thank you very much.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Historically, the arrival of new immigrants has played a fundamental role in shaping English-speaking Quebec, particularly in the greater Montreal area, where the diversity of the population is a defining characteristic of our community.
As mentioned in the QCGN's presentation to this committee on February 17, 2003, immigrants have always played an important role in the vitality of English-speaking Quebec. We value the diversity arising from immigration and generally view newcomers as making significant contributions to our community and Quebec society.
In a brief to the National Assembly committee on immigration in 2007, the QCGN argued that immigrants whose first official language spoken was English could identify with the English-speaking community while successfully integrating into Quebec society.
As Dr. Jack Jedwab explained in his presentation to you last week, the choice of definition, whether it be mother tongue or first official language spoken, leads to significantly different numbers. The first are immigrants who readily identify with the English-speaking communities of Quebec. The latter is a group that may have more affinity to the English-speaking community because they are more comfortable in English than French.
Identity and identification are at the intersection of official languages policy and immigration policy in Quebec, and these issues impact the more substantial challenges of renewal and retention that our community must address.
In his latest annual report, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Mr. Graham Fraser, dares to tackle the issue of renewal of our community head-on. Mr. Fraser acknowledges that the community has many years of experience in integrating newcomers and managing cultural diversity. He suggests:
...it would be important for English-speaking community organizations to obtain the resources they need to continue working on integrating newcomers and helping them realize their full potential in Quebec.
For a multitude of reasons, the federal government has had difficulty fulfilling its responsibilities toward the English-speaking minority community under part VII of the Official Languages Act.
First, responsibility in the area of immigration has been devolved to the provincial government.
Second, the creation of a steering committee by Citizenship and Immigration Canada for francophone minority communities did not have an equivalent for the other official language minority community. The strategic framework and summary of initiatives that was produced by the steering committee did not consider or contribute to the vitality of our community.
Finally, the report tabled in 2003, entitled “Immigration as a Tool for the Development of Official Language Minority Communities”, was unable to address the needs of English-speaking immigrants to Quebec. We are here today to offer some innovative ideas and hopefully start a dialogue around this issue.
Too often, immigrants to Quebec who speak English fall between the cracks, and the federal government has an opportunity to offer them services and help them integrate into Quebec and Canadian society through the English-speaking community. This can be done in a win-win fashion, particularly in the regions of Quebec.
The provincial government has a strong desire to regionalize new immigrants. There are English-speaking communities in most regions of Quebec, and if English-speaking immigrants were able to count on those communities for guidance, services, and networks to help them integrate, this might motivate them to move to the regions. Without this support system, new immigrants are more likely to remain in Montreal, where they will find support from their own communities.
This is one area where the federal government can play a role in supporting the vitality and development of English-speaking communities: by helping those organizations working in the regions to offer services such as referral services for French as a second language, help in seeking jobs, and employment referral services.
Secondary migration of immigrants is something that both the province and the English-speaking community would like to avoid. An interesting--although slightly outdated--poll produced by CROP and the Missisquoi Institute in 2000 shows the reasons why immigrants who speak English tend to leave the province.
The poll reveals that they are more inclined to leave for educational and economic opportunities. Those are the main reasons they cited. They also cited discrimination and problems associated with integration as influencing the decision to leave the province.
As the QCGN suggested in 2003, English-speaking institutions can provide a sense of community to immigrants while facilitating the transition to Quebec society and its linguistic reality. Successful integration is closely linked to the institutional vitality of communities, and Quebec's English-speaking population is no exception.
Mr. Chairman, as you and your fellow committee members sit down to write up your report and recommendations on immigration as a development tool in official language minority communities, we hope you will address the need for renewal of our community. We also hope that politicians and policy-makers will invest in this some time and innovative thinking that will inform longer-term investments in Quebec, ahead of the next road map.
What we would like to see is more research, particularly action-based research such as pilot projects, that would lead to meaningful investment in the development of Quebec's English-speaking minority community. In the meantime, we suggest that more multi-sectoral and interdepartmental efforts be put into an assessment of the needs of the English-speaking minority in terms of immigration, immigrant retention, and community renewal.
Thank you very much.