Like my colleague, I want to highlight the assistance we receive from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, but more support is needed.
With respect to Destination Canada funding, I would say that our Atlantic friends are more fortunate than we are. We've never received funding for our community to participate in Destination Canada.
The francophone significant benefit program was quite helpful as an incentive for employers, encouraging them to hire French speakers. Unfortunately, the program is no more.
When we speak with employers, we do our utmost to educate them on hiring francophone workers. They ask us why they should hire a French speaker who will probably have problems with the language. They have very little confidence in that option.
Even though francophones are sufficiently qualified from a language standpoint, it's extremely difficult convincing employers that the labour market has highly skilled and bilingual francophones to offer. The only incentive program we had is gone now.