Official Languages Committee on April 8th, 2014

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

There's an adaptation, but there's a challenge regarding this adaptation in terms of, let's say, the major fields in which these young francophones have been studying, where they work, in which sectors. As you know, some of the sectors are more likely to hire young Canadians right after they finish high school, which could be detrimental to their pursuing higher education.

I'm not saying that this adaptation is not going on. Yes, it is, certainly. But there are challenges in how to face this adaptation and how to make sure we provide all the information available to make this transition.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you very much.

Madame Bateman.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a number of questions for Mr. Corbeil.

I remember when you spoke about aboriginal people at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women. I think it was last year.

Do you have comparable data that would allow us to follow the evolution of the socio-economic situation of official language minority communities? If you do, have you done comparative analyses? How has the socio-economic situation of official language minority communities changed over the past 10 years?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

As you know, Statistics Canada's mandate is to carry out analyses and studies in many areas, such as immigration, health, bilingualism and others. Some comparative studies have been done by Statistics Canada for Employment and Social Development Canada's Enabling Fund for Official Language Minority Communities. One of these studies examines the balance between supply and demand in several official language minority communities. We could definitely send you a copy of this study, if necessary.

It is difficult to comment on a short period of 10 years, for example, because the situation fluctuates with the economic cycles. There is a large amount of data on the subject, but it mainly concerns individuals and less so businesses, which are much more difficult to define.

Information is available. As for whether many comparative studies have been done, the answer is no. There are probably not enough resources, in every sense of the word, to carry out all these studies. Yes, we have conducted some studies and we know that our colleagues from other departments have, in particular Employment and Social Development Canada.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you.

You said that immigration is one aspect that you study. Have you produced a socio-economic portrait of immigrants living in official language minority communities?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

As I said earlier, an update will be given on this topic to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The 2010 report contain information, dating back to 1991, for every 10 years up to the 2006 census.

We provided an update in order to see how the situation of these immigrants and that of immigrants who do not necessarily speak French has changed.

Other analyses are being carried out. We are following the experiences of immigrants since their arrival in Canada to determine whether their socio-economic situation improves over time. These Statistics Canada studies are under way and will definitely be released by the end of the current year.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Is the economic situation of immigrants who do not come from minority linguistic communities different?

[Jean-Pierre Corbeil]

As I mentioned earlier, French-speaking immigrants are very educated. They are more educated than immigrants who speak other languages. However, they face significant challenges integrating into the labour market. For example, we note the fact that not having a good command of English is a significant barrier outside Quebec.

The unemployment rate among French-speaking immigrants who do not have a good command of English—which most definitely is a barrier—is higher than that of francophone immigrants who are bilingual or who have some knowledge of English.

This information is available and there is a wealth of data on these characteristics. We are talking about a very educated population, but one that faces significant challenges with respect to the labour market.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Corbeil.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Ms. Bateman.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Lalonde, I quite agree with you on the importance of economic immigration.

Can you tell us more about the concrete measures that the government should implement to promote the recruitment and integration of international students?

I would also like to talk about immigration in Canada. Quebec looks after the immigration of francophones. Is the rest of Canada really doing its part to promote francophone immigration? Is Quebec the only one to do so? Are all applications forwarded to Quebec instead of to regions with francophone minorities? I would like to hear your views on this.

[Jocelyne Lalonde]

With respect to the question of international students and immigration, our goal is to have a francophone immigration rate of 4.4% in our communities over the next few years. It is important to reach this percentage of immigrants in order to meet the needs of our communities and to keep the number of francophones within our francophonie the same because there is a significant immigration of anglophones in our communities.

International students are one of the most important groups that will ensure that we have good francophone immigration. These people have been educated here. The have a good knowledge of the environment and they have often worked while studying. An international student is permitted to work 20 hours a week in Canada while studying. That helps them to integrate.

At present, there is a bursary in the francophonie and one of the eligibility criteria is that the person who comes to study in Canada must return to their own country. This criterion should be changed. The majority of students who come to Canada would like to stay here when they finish their studies. This criterion prevents these people from applying for this bursary.

With that in mind, we have to put in place services at our universities and colleges that will ensure the economic integration of our students once they have graduated. We have to work with them to ensure that these young people can remain in our communities afterwards and continue to work. These are two important elements.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Earlier, you talked about internships. A lot of young people graduating university say that nobody wants to hire them because they have no experience. People ask them where they come from, and they say that they went to such-and-such a university or college. Then people ask them where they worked, and they say nowhere.

Can you tell us more about that? What kind of programs do you think should be in place to address this problem? Do you have any recommendations about how to give young people a chance to get work experience so they can say they had an employer and worked with someone for six months? Then a future employer can say that person has certain skills and training and that he knows what that person can do. I would like to hear your recommendations because you talked about that during your presentation.

[Jocelyne Lalonde]

As I said in my presentation, it is becoming increasingly important for colleges and universities to work with communities and businesses. We have to give our students a chance to get experience in their field after or during their training.

Right now, that is working a lot better at the college level. At the university level, it depends on the program. More and more institutions are offering co-op programs that enable students to take classes for a semester and then go work for a business to apply what they learned. There are also more and more initiatives that enable businesses to offer internships.

We really have to work on that relationship between communities, post-secondary institutions and businesses to train skilled workers who are workplace-ready upon graduating.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Godin.

Thank you all for your testimony.

We'll suspend for a couple of minutes to allow our witnesses to depart, but also to allow our clerk to distribute the three motions under consideration.

The meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We will resume the meeting.

We have a notice of motion from Mr. Godin. There are three notices of motion.

Before discussing the motions and giving the floor to Mr. Gourde, who made a request, I would like to say that I believe the committee has agreed to let the Chair cancel the April 29 meeting. I will cancel that meeting because many committee members will not be able to participate.

Since the committee has agreed to cancel the April 29 meeting, I will do so.

Mr. Gourde, you have the floor.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Chair, can we go in camera to discuss the motions?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Are the committee members okay with that?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Do you want to request a recorded vote?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like to request a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Godin has asked for a recorded vote. I will turn things over to the clerk.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 5; nays 3)

I declare the motion carried.

We'll give the technicians a moment to bring this committee in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]