Good morning, Mr. Chair, and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. My name is Peter Sylvester, and I am the Associate Deputy Minister and official languages champion of Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Joining me today is Yves Saint-Germain, Director of Information, Language and Community Policy at CIC.
We are pleased to be here today to discuss CIC's activities through the funding allocated under the Roadmap for Canada's Linguistic Duality.
Canada has a long-standing tradition of immigration. Immigration has contributed and continues to contribute to the social and economic development of Canada and to its cultural enrichment, and it also benefits the country's two linguistic communities.
Under the roadmap, CIC received $20 million over five years to maintain, improve and develop immigration-related activities in official language minority communities.
In terms of anglophone minority communities, a significant factor that must be kept in mind is the 1991 Canada and Quebec agreement on immigration. CIC is exploring options for how it can best meet its obligations towards the official language minorities in Quebec while respecting commitments that exist under the Canada-Quebec Accord.
The Department is working with representatives from these communities to carry out research, including an assessment of the communities' capacity to attract newcomers and a statistical portrait of immigrants that have settled within those communities.
In terms of supporting francophone minority communities outside Quebec, CIC's approach is to increase the number of francophone immigrants settling in these communities and ensure that they obtain the support they need to integrate in French into Canadian society.
In addition to the funds allocated through the roadmap, CIC has set aside $10 million over four years from its settlement program for specific activities related to welcoming and integrating French-speaking immigrants in official language minority communities.
Concretely, CIC's funds under the roadmap are dedicated to: promotion and recruitment activities for potential French-speaking immigrants; francophone immigration networks; settlement and integration services for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec; coordination and cooperation activities among key stakeholders; and research activities for official language minority communities.
As you know, Mr. Chair, the work we do in this area requires collaboration with many partners. CIC believes in the benefits of consulting regularly with communities in order to be in touch with the realities they face. That's why in 2002 the department created the CIC Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee. This committee brings together representatives from federal departments and agencies, provinces and territories, and representatives of official language minority communities to foster immigration to francophone minority communities and to help these communities benefit from immigration.
You may be aware that a 2004 study by the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada noted gaps in the capacity of francophone minority communities to support the reception and integration of French-speaking immigrants.
The study identified several challenges, including a lack of recruitment capacity and means to promote francophone minority communities, as well as a lack of reception and integration services in French.
In its efforts to address these issues, in September 2006 CIC unveiled the Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities.
The strategic plan was drawn up in partnership with federal departments and provincial, territorial, and community representatives through the CIC Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee. Its objective is to provide a concerted and targeted approach to support the vitality of francophone minority communities by attracting a greater number of French-speaking immigrants to regions outside Quebec, improving the capacity of francophone minority communities to receive francophone newcomers, and facilitating the integration of the newcomers.
CIC's activities within the strategic plan were aligned with the road map, and accordingly the initial five-year period of the strategic plan, 2006-2011, was extended into 2013. Under the road map we funded the Destination Canada job fair. Destination Canada has been gaining in popularity in recent years, with extensive media coverage and attendance in Paris and Brussels reaching a record high in 2011. From almost 12,400 requests to participate, almost 2,700 pre-selected candidates participated in this year's eighth edition of the fair. More than 300 separate job profiles were posted on the event website by 110 different employers or their authorized representatives. An informal survey conducted at the end of the fair indicated that approximately 150 contracts were signed and another 150 interviews were planned.
CIC was pleased to see that the success of Destination Canada was noted in the 2010-2011 Annual Report of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages.
We have also strengthened francophone immigration networks, and have established 13 francophone immigration networks for French-speaking immigrants in nine provinces and two territories. In other words, we have built the capacity of communities to welcome and integrate new immigrants into the community.
These networks bring together more than 250 francophone organizations representing various sectors, including economic development, education and health.
To give you just one example of the important work these networks do, the three Ontario networks collaborated with La Toile des carrières to organize bilingual job fairs in Ottawa and Toronto. Ninety-seven employers participated in Toronto and 55 in Ottawa.
With regards to the integration services delivered to French-speaking immigrants, CIC funds 121 French points of service. These are located in 24 cities outside Quebec and are managed by francophone service providers.
Other initiatives include a full range of tools for language training in French, the provision of settlement services in French schools, workshops on employer awareness and jobs fairs, and the establishment of entrepreneurship and labour market training programs.
As mentioned earlier, Mr. Chair, one of the key objectives for the CIC within the road map is to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants to regions outside of Quebec. Quite frankly, this is our biggest challenge, but we're pleased to say that momentum has been building.
Statistics indicate that 1.5% or 3,481 permanent residents admitted to Canada outside Quebec in 2010 were French-speaking immigrants. Preliminary data from January to June 2011 show that we are on track to achieve the target of 1.8% by 2013, as we are now at 1.7% or 1,545.
CIC remains committed to meeting the target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants settling in francophone minority communities outside Quebec by 2023. Immigration is, after all, one of the key contributing factors to the vitality of official languages minority communities.
Moving forward, CIC is looking to promote the transition from temporary to permanent residence for francophone temporary residents through the Canadian Experience Class, or CEC. In particular, more emphasis will be placed on promoting the CEC at events such as Destination Canada.
The CEC offers many temporary foreign workers and foreign student graduates in Canada the opportunity to apply to stay as permanent residents and eventually become Canadian citizens. It helps Canada permanently retain temporary residents with Canadian skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French.
CIC is also looking toward employment-based promotion and recruitment activities, including employer outreach throughout the year to increase the number of job offers to potential French-speaking immigrants. In this regard, our department believes that community stakeholders could play a greater role by mobilizing employers through available community networks.
Before closing, I would just like to inform members of the committee that CIC has retained the services of an external consultant to conduct an evaluation of the recruitment and integration of immigrants. The evaluation is well underway and preliminary results will be taken into account in the horizontal summative evaluation currently being conducted by Canadian Heritage. CIC's final report is expected this coming June.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would be more than happy to answer any questions that committee members may have on this topic.