Official Languages Committee on May 11th, 2010

[Elizabeth Mills]

I would say that there is an Acadian community in Nova Scotia already. Those individuals have to speak English as well as French, but they also enjoy a very rich culture. My expectation is that immigrants who come to Nova Scotia and are French-speaking immigrants will also have to learn English, but they will be welcomed into a very rich and welcoming Acadian community.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I'd like to hear from the Manitoba representatives.

What percentage of people leave Manitoba because they cannot work in their language, for cultural or professional reasons?

[Ben Rempel]

It's difficult to get numbers on why people would choose to leave the province. Our overall retention rates are positive. Our employment rates are consistently high. In fact, I think we just recently posted the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.

So employment opportunities are there, generally, for immigrants, and their participation rate in the labour market is high. We feel that our job with the francophone immigrants we attract is to make them aware and to prepare them, and in fact, to promote Manitoba to those who see a bilingual lifestyle as an opportunity, not a setback. I think our success has been built on that.

Certainly, I agree with you that services in French are critical. We have invested a lot in services for the reception of immigrants and for their ongoing needs. Employment centres, for example, offer services in French, and so forth. For the most part, most services, particularly in the francophone areas of our city, are available in French.

If you talk to our French community members, more can and must be done, absolutely, but we're on the right track. I think it's based on a common recognition that we need to have services in French if we're going to attract and retain francophone immigrants.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Fine.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Ms. Guay. We're going to continue with Mr. Généreux.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank all the witnesses for being here, we appreciate your presence very much.

There are three types of agreements in Canada between the provinces and the federal government concerning immigration and the protection of refugees. There are framework agreements, the provincial Nominee Program and agreements on settlement services. What I want to focus on this morning is the Nominee Program of the province. The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the immigration of people who can particularly further economic development, as the agreement makes possible the selection of certain refugees or certain immigrants.

Is this program in effect in your province? If so, is it bearing fruit, are the efforts you make in this area successful? My question is addressed to Ms. Mills and Mr. Rempel.

[Elizabeth Mills]

First, let me clarify that we do not have a devolved settlement agreement with the Government of Canada, unlike Manitoba, which does. We do have a provincial nominee agreement and that allows us to nominate individuals who meet our labour market and economic development needs in the province. The federal government makes the final decision, though, after security, health, and medical checks are done, but it is a very useful tool to us.

As part of our agreement, we do have a clause in there that says we see immigration as a tool to preserve the French language in Nova Scotia.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Thank you.

[Ben Rempel]

Our situation, except for the fact that we have the devolved settlement agreement, is similar, in that our agreement places a priority on the francophone immigration strategy.

But absolutely, the provincial nominee program is a key pillar of our economic development strategy in Manitoba, and it has increased both in terms of success and in terms of resources incrementally every year. For a while there, I was the envy of a number of other departments. When freezes were in place, I was getting new staff and we were expanding our programs.

That was simply because the record was showing that all of our achievements in population growth, in labour market stability--I shouldn't say “all”, but a significant proportion of those achievements--were related to the successes through economic immigration that we'd experienced. That was through all categories of immigration, really.

We continue to see the PNP as a stabilizing part of our present, in many ways, a key piece of our economic future, and, in fact, a major reason why we've weathered some of the economic turbulence recently, with more economic or labour market stability than other jurisdictions. We feel it's because of that labour market growth that we sustained over a decade.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Your reply is very interesting. For a few weeks now, we have heard it said that the two pillars, as you have just referred to them, are the insertion in the workplace of immigrants, in particular in the provinces where it is possible to work in French, and education. Correct me if I am wrong. The presence of these immigrants will be a boon to the labour market in particular areas. These are very important pillars for future development. We agree with the fact that this is a forward-looking policy. People know where they come from but they want to know where they are going and how they can work to improve what they have got. Do you consider these two pillars to be very important?

[Ben Rempel]

If I understand the question correctly, I mean...I'll answer simply and say yes, they are. We need to find ways of attracting new kinds of opportunities, particularly for francophone immigrants, not just by recognizing the reality that we have predominantly anglophone workplaces, but by creating opportunities where they can work in French.

We are exploring an initiative, for example, to offer mentorship and work experience opportunities to graduates in France and other countries, whereby they can come here and work as teachers in our immersion schools throughout the province. That's just one example. In our health care sector, we look at francophone nurses and at where they can work in hospitals and health care centres where there are predominantly francophone patients and so on.

So I think, as you said, that with a forward-looking approach, we need to look at how we can not only meet current needs but also increase employment opportunities for them--not just to live in French but also to work in French.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I'd simply like to add, somewhat facetiously, that if I had a choice to go either east or west, I would go east. I would go and see Ms. Mills and Ms. Désy. Oh! oh!

[Joëlle Désy]

Mr. Généreux, I am originally from the province of Quebec and I went to Nova Scotia to learn English for a few months. And here I am 25 years later; I'm still there because I love the province.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

When you went there, did you already have a good education and work skills? That is what people look for, Mr. Généreux.

We will continue with Mr. Gravel.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is addressed to the representatives from both provinces. Do post-secondary institutions in your provinces participate in the recruitment and retention of francophone immigrants?

[Joëlle Désy]

Sainte-Anne University participates in recruiting francophone immigrants, especially foreign students. Authorities organize their own recruitment fairs, more particularly in North Africa and West Africa in order to recruit students. L'Université Sainte-Anne is a very small university, it is the only francophone university in Nova Scotia. It has about 450 students. Between 60 and 70 of them are foreign students. That is an excellent percentage. There are in total 11 universities in Nova Scotia. We have a lot of foreign students and we systematically make presentations in universities including the French-language one, in order to inform, to make the program known to candidates, as well as the possibility for foreign students to become permanent residents through this program. We encourage them to apply.

[Colin Lemoine]

It's the same thing in Manitoba. The Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface is the only francophone university in Manitoba. The college makes a lot of efforts to recruit international students sometimes with our cooperation and sometimes alone. As in Nova Scotia, we do everything in our power within the Nominee Program to encourage these students to remain in Manitoba once they have their degrees.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Does your government offer language courses to newcomers and are there special programs for francophone immigrants in your universities?

[Joëlle Désy]

Excuse me, could you repeat the question?

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

Does your government offer programs to immigrants, especially francophone immigrants—special programs in schools?

[Joëlle Désy]

In primary schools, especially francophone ones, there are programs. There is a person who will help the students who are having difficulties because they don't necessarily speak French, children whose first language is not French. So there is help available for children.

At the university level, the Université Sainte-Anne receives funding within the framework of the Canada-Nova Scotia Agreement relating to the labour market and it offers a program which includes language classes. It is a project, there are language classes but also assistance with insertion into the workplace and placements in a French language workplace. I'm not sure if I'm answering your question?

Yes? Thank you.

[Colin Lemoine]

The university college receives approximately $34,000 a year to offer French-language training. There is also funding to provide English-language tutors to the students. So there is assistance available for both English and French, both languages.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

You referred to an amount of $34,000 for French language immigrants in the entire province?

[Colin Lemoine]

No, that's just for one university.

[Claude Gravelle, NDP, Nickel Belt, ON]

How many do you have?