Official Languages Committee on May 13th, 2010

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

If you're willing—and you aren't obliged to answer me, Mr. Cayen, because I'll probably use all 30 seconds—I would be curious to know the Ontario government's intentions with regard to the efforts it wants to make on intake and integration across the province. I'm not just interested in the east, but also in the north, in the slightly more rural regions and, of course, in the major metropolitan area of Toronto. I think that would help us enormously in our work, which, if possible, we want to complete next month.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Bélanger.

We'll move on with Ms. Glover.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to all our witnesses who are here this morning.

Mr. Jourdain, something surprised me when you made your presentation. So I'd like to go back over those important remarks to determine what you were talking about. You said that the statements in your presentation did not reflect the position of the Government of Alberta.

[Guy Jourdain]

I'll try to provide some clarification. In my oral remarks, I used slightly different wording. It's important that I repeat it. I said that this morning we were representing the provinces and territories, with the exception of Alberta, which has refrained from taking a position on this matter in the present circumstances. I'll explain to you why Alberta has refrained from giving its point of view.

Alberta has a general policy that its government does not appear before federal parliamentary committees. I won't give you all the background to the matter, but it's a general policy. Consequently, as a result of that general policy, the Alberta government has decided not to associate with the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie for the purpose of this morning's appearance. However, that does not mean that it is opposed to the remarks we make or that it does not adopt our position. It is simply not taking a position either for or against.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

You also mentioned that the same is true for Quebec. It's doing the same thing as Alberta. Could you explain Quebec's viewpoint so that I can completely understand the situation?

[Guy Jourdain]

The Government of Quebec has the same general policy of not appearing before federal parliamentary committees, but it nevertheless agreed to associate with the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie for this morning's appearance.

So these are two provinces that have similar policies, but that have come to different conclusions.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Thank you for the clarification.

Ms. Drapeau-Miles, I'd like to talk about your reception committee. Back home in Manitoba, we have a francophone hospitality service which is able to receive and welcome francophone immigrants at the airport and follow them until they are more properly integrated.

How does your reception committee work? Do you welcome francophone immigrants at the airport, and where do you go from there?

[Monique Drapeau-Miles]

Are you talking specifically about francophone immigrants who arrive in New Brunswick?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Exactly.

[Monique Drapeau-Miles]

In New Brunswick, that varies from place to place. For example, in the greater Moncton area, there is an agency, the Centre d'accueil des immigrants et immigrantes de Moncton, which right off the bat will go and meet newcomers at the airport and follow them until they are integrated. Their services are enhanced by another agency in the region, AMGM. So it depends on the region you're talking about.

Our goal is to ensure that there is a common thread across the province, that there is a similarity among services even in the north and mainly rural areas. That's our intake objective.

Our assumption is that people come looking for work but will stay depending on the community's reception. The immigrant resource centre has a social component.

Naturally, we hope to adopt the best practices of Saint-Boniface, but the idea is also to ensure economic integration. So these two components should be combined in the communities within a community network. We don't want to replace existing services, but we do want to enhance them.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

With regard to Mr. Godin's question, the Roadmap definitely talks about federal government support. You're the only province receiving $10 million for francophone recruitment and immigration. That's really extraordinary support, isn't it?

[Monique Drapeau-Miles]

Yes, and we definitely thank the federal government for it. We take the expectations seriously. Naturally, all the other provinces are watching us closely. So we want to be very strategic in the infrastructure we establish. We also have to think about how we can keep these services over the next three years.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

May I interrupt you? I lost a few seconds as a result of the exchange between Monique Guay and Mr. Nadeau.

You hired two people to go to other countries. From what countries do the largest number of francophone immigrants come to you?

[Mario Boisvert]

From Quebec.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

That's not a country; it's in Canada.

[Mario Boisvert]

It's currently France.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

And in second place?

[Mario Boisvert]

I would dare say Belgium or Romania.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much, Ms. Glover.

We'll now go to Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Ms. Glover, I apologize for what happened earlier.

I am very pleased to see by friend Royal Galipeau proudly wearing the jersey of Marcel Bonin, I assume. I've never seem him play, but I'm sure it brings back nice memories for Mr. Galipeau.

That said, I would like to talk about retention. Among the people who arrive in your respective provinces, are many on their way to Quebec, to another province or to the United States—which would be surprising, even though we occasionally see that in the case of anglophone immigration? First, perhaps it should be determined whether it's hard to retain new Canadian francophone immigrants and if so, the nature of that challenge.

[Guy Jourdain]

I told you earlier that all our efforts began recently, that is to say they go back to 2002-2003. Before we established any infrastructure, there was fairly significant interprovincial migration. Francophone immigrants came and settled in Manitoba. For various reasons, among other things, if they didn't feel comfortable there, they went elsewhere in Canada. Now that we're receiving them properly, establishing infrastructure and making an integration effort, the retention percentage is increasing sharply.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Having lived in Saskatchewan, I know that a lot of fransaskois or francophones left for Saint-Boniface or Saint-Jean Campus, in Alberta, to study French there. Some went to Quebec. Another focal point was British Columbia. I assume the fact that the province has francophone post-secondary education is a big help.

[Guy Jourdain]

I don't know the technical aspects, but I do know there has been a more relaxed attitude on the part of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. People who have a student authorization can then quite easily obtain a work permit and stay in the country, which was not the case five or six years ago.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Are there any particular things to report in this area in Ontario, Mr. Cayen?

[Daniel Cayen]

To my knowledge, there's no retention problem. A lot of effort is being made. However, integration may be one of our biggest challenges. Earlier you mentioned access to French-language schools. In Ontario, there are admissions committees as a result of the issue of rights holders, which is related to section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ontario is making a planned effort to integrate francophone immigrants in francophone schools. There are 12 francophone school boards in Ontario, and each of them has its own admissions committee. These admissions committees are governed by policies of our Ministry of Education. Their deliberate aim is to encourage these school boards to admit immigrants from francophone immigrant families.