Evidence of meeting #85 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Kenney, for specifying that you were not trying to renegotiate the immigration agreement between the federal government and the Government of Quebec. Your colleagues' comments seem strangely similar to a questioning and challenging of the way in which Quebec exercises its prerogatives with respect to immigration, resulting from this negotiated agreement. Quite honestly, in the same vein, I believe Quebeckers would have a great deal to say about the way in which this government exercises its prerogatives and uses Quebeckers' taxes. I am pleased that you added that additional information because I was quite concerned.
Now, I would like to quickly get back to the system for expression of interest that should be implemented shortly. Can you tell me whether the list that is to be prepared, including a pool of candidates, will only contain the names of long-term immigrants, in other words people who will become permanent residents and then citizens? Would that also apply to temporary foreign workers?
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
No, temporary workers can submit their applications to be included within this pool, but all selected individuals within the pool will obtain permanent residency.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Very well.
So, we don't expect them to leave the country after a certain number of months, once their contract ends. Is that correct?
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Perfect. I was somewhat worried, but I believe that is a good thing.
In the new Roadmap mention is made of concrete objectives and recruitment targets in the area of immigration. Would it be possible to send these objectives and targets to the Standing Committee on Official Languages before the end of the session, in other words by June 21?
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you very much.
In November 2010, the Standing Committee on Official Languages produced a report on immigration. This report contained several important recommendations for the department and, of course, for the minister. Has CIC retained some of these recommendations?
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I do not have the report here with me, but a formal response was given. Right?
I am told a formal reply was given.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Aside from a response stating that you were making a note of it, I would like to know whether or not some recommendations were really implemented within the department.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
I am sorry, but I do not have all of the recommendations before me. I know that, globally, we said that we were already acting on the recommendations. I do not believe there are any major gaps between the recommendations of the committee and actions already undertaken by the government.
4:35 p.m.
Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Perhaps I could add to that, Mr. Chairman.
There were, among other things, some recommendations on governance. In designing the new Roadmap, we worked quite closely with several stakeholders, including the FCFA, to see whether we could, based on those recommendations, develop a strategy in the new Roadmap that would respond to some of those recommendations. We have done that, and we have a new Roadmap that is based, for example, on a new system of governance. Greater emphasis will be put on cooperation and pursuing endeavours among various levels of government and the communities.
There was also the matter of data collection, so that when we get to the end of the new Roadmap, we can actually measure the effectiveness of this strategy. Under the new Roadmap, for example, there is a new focus on research and data collection. Those are just a few examples of how we have applied the recommendations.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Élaine Michaud NDP Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Thank you very much.
Earlier, my colleague, Mr. Dionne Labelle, was critical of the fact that of the top 10 source countries for immigration to Canada, not one of them is French-speaking. I could name them if you want to check, but I don't have time for that now. If you combine that with the fact that there has already been $500,000 in cuts to the current Roadmap for activities such as the settlement and integration of French-speaking immigrants, how do these cuts I have just referred to actually help us to meet our targets for francophone immigration to minority official language communities?
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
There are no cuts. On the contrary, our government...
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
There are no cuts. Our government has increased the federal funding available for settlement services, including francophone services, by 300%. So that's an increase outside Quebec. The amount has gone from $200 million to $600 million. There are no cuts under the Roadmap to services specifically targeting minority language communities, except for a few hundred thousand dollars for corporate and provincial travel costs to Paris.
I don't think that in this fiscal environment we should be paying for people's junkets to Paris, quite frankly.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Kenney and department officials, for being with us today. We appreciate your time. I am not a regular member of this committee but I certainly picked an interesting day to substitute for my friend, Mr. Trottier. I'm very pleased to be here.
As I think you know, Minister, I'm a first generation Canadian. Both my parents emigrated from Italy in the 1950s. My mother came in 1950 when she was six years old. My father came in 1956 when he was 15 after being separated from his father for four years, until they could afford to bring my father and two of his younger brothers to Canada.
I would say that both of my parents learned English fairly easily, probably because they were young.
I'm wondering if you have any idea whether age has an impact on how quickly new immigrants learn whatever language they're immersed in.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Jason Kenney Conservative Calgary Southeast, AB
To be honest with you, we don't have very good data on that. There are a lot of studies—about which I'm not an expert—on learning languages and language proficiency. As it relates to the free language services that we provide, this is called language instruction for newcomers to Canada, or LINC. It's a program that we fund out of that envelope of $600 million in settlement services. It's typically provided by non-profit community service organizations.
To be honest with you, because it's delivered often by small non-profits, we don't have a lot of data about outcomes, but we're working on that. That's been a weakness in the system. We are developing a new framework for reporting so that we can actually track the progress that we're making. We don't want to be spending tax dollars on these programs if we're not actually getting a good result from them.
I would say as a supplementary comment that typically, but not exclusively, the clients for those language classes are not the primary economic immigrants, but are dependants or refugees, because by definition, most of the primary economic immigrants have already demonstrated a high level of English or French language proficiency. It's often their spouses and refugees who have a steeper hill to climb in terms of language proficiency.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Stella Ambler Conservative Mississauga South, ON
Right. Actually that was one of my questions about the language training. I know that we've tripled the settlement funding and that part of that is obviously for language training. Even though my parents and grandparents weren't considered economic immigrants—I don't know if we had that term back then—I have one grandmother who worked at a dry cleaner's for 40 years so her English is excellent. She's 92 years old now, and I speak English with my 92-year-old grandmother, sadly.
