Good afternoon.
I am pleased to be joining you today in my capacity as the Director General of the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse.
Our organization is a true federation composed of 29 regional and sectoral agencies and clients working to advance the federation's mission.
The federation fulfills its mission by acting as the main spokesperson for the Acadian and francophone population of Nova Scotia; by facilitating cooperation and partnership among all the agencies working in Nova Scotia's Acadian and francophone community; by offering services and programs that address the needs of its members; and by supporting its members in promoting the vitality and development of Nova Scotia's Acadian and francophone community.
In 2003, the Citizenship and Immigration Steering Committee released its Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities of Canada. To achieve the plan's objectives, the federal and provincial departments of immigration partnered with key organizations in Canada's minority communities. This spawned francophone immigration in Nova Scotia, an initiative spearheaded by the federation, which officially represents Nova Scotia's Acadian and francophone population at the various levels of government.
In 2006, the federation signed cooperation agreements with the federal government, represented by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the provincial government, represented by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration, to develop promotion, recruitment, intake and integration capacity with a view to attracting French-speaking newcomers to Nova Scotia and encouraging them to remain in the province. Under these agreements and with continuing government support, Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse offers a variety of services free of charge to French-speaking newcomers to Nova Scotia.
The objectives of Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse, which is a project of the federation, are as follows: increase the number of French-speaking newcomers who choose to settle in Nova Scotia, and encourage them to remain in the province; assist these newcomers with their integration in the province; and increase the intake and integration capacity of Nova Scotia's Acadian and francophone communities.
To achieve these objectives, a number of key organizations in the community have come together under a steering committee to put together an action plan supporting the continued growth of francophone immigration. That's where we see how effective our federation is.
The following organizations are part of that steering committee: the Association des juristes d'expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse, the Conseil de développement économique de la Nouvelle-Écosse, Université Sainte-Anne, the Fédération des femmes acadiennes de la Nouvelle-Écosse, the Regroupement des aînées et aînés de la Nouvelle-Écosse, the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial, the Conseil jeunesse provincial de la Nouvelle-Écosse, the Réseau santé Nouvelle-Écosse, a representative of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada steering committee on francophone immigration and a representative of the immigrant community.
Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse offers pre-departure, settlement, integration and outreach services. These services are greatly appreciated by the immigrant community, who can turn to the dedicated employees of Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse who can guide them step by step in this new environment and life.
Yet despite the excellent service provided by Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse, our province's francophone immigrants are at a disadvantage on several fronts compared with anglophone immigrants. Many services provided by the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia are not accessible to francophone immigrants. For example: crisis intervention services, including support with legal, financial and mental health issues; family support and counselling, including help with family law and domestic violence; refugee services; workshops given by professionals on a range of topics, such as income tax returns, as it's that time of year; and references to institutions offering second-language courses.
Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse cannot provide any of those services. Moreover, some needs identified by immigrants themselves cannot be met by Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse because these services do not fall under its mandate.
Those are support services for international students, support services to facilitate student integration, French second-language courses and certification, and language skills testing to be granted permanent residency. None of those services are provided because they don't fall under the mandate of Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse.
More concerning is that people who contact the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia and who could benefit from the services offered by Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse are not referred to our organization because immigrants are not asked whether they also speak French. So they are not given an option between English and French services.
For example, this summer, we learned that 20 immigrants who spoke French and would have liked to use our federation's services were systematically referred to the anglophone system and found out about francophone immigration services only once it was too late. For Nova Scotia, 20 francophone immigrants is a lot.
In addition, some Citizenship and Immigration Canada programs that have been eliminated or recast, such as the Francophone Significant Benefit service and civil service jobs for international students, have created additional problems for employers wanting to hire francophone immigrants.
For example, our federation has for some years now welcomed francophone students who have responded to a civil service job offer. Until now, the process was relatively simple. A job offer was posted, interviews were held, and a candidate was selected who met certain conditions set by the Office franco-québécois pour la jeunesse and the Agence du service civique français.
In February, however, we were told that we now have to pay a fee to the CIC and fill out an online form before making a formal job offer. In principle, these extra steps should not pose a problem. However, it has been a real headache, since the instructions for the new procedure are unclear.
I usually have no problems, but it took me a whole day to get through the first step, which didn't even consist in filling out the form, but only in paying the fees. The “civic service mission” option was not available in the menu. I did select the option “other services”, but that did not work. The other options were “permanent residence”, “temporary residence”, “Canadian citizenship”, and so on.
I selected “other services”, but I should have clicked on “temporary residence”. A colleague from the Société nationale de l'Acadie helped me figure it out. If I clicked on “other services”, I ended up on “application for Canadian citizenship with a criminal conviction”, “with a criminal record” or “with a serious criminal record”. It no longer made sense.
Navigating through that maze is almost impossible, and I have not even filled out the form. Think of all the time we waste in order to do that! Moreover, we can't speak to an officer. If I had these problems, you can be sure that other organizations that are trying to get a trainee as part of a civic service mission will just give up instead of wasting a whole day trying to figure out how to get into the system.
As for the Francophone Significant Benefit, as the program has not yet been replaced, and as the commissioner mentioned earlier, it can be assumed that many employers will turn to employees who are weak in French in order to meet their workforce needs.
In conclusion, although the CIC's programs have made it possible to accommodate a growing number of immigrants to Canada and Nova Scotia, it seems the services provided favour anglophone over francophone immigration because Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse and employers in our community do not have the same tools as anglophone employers and service providers. This imbalance discourages francophone immigrants from settling in our great province and thus contributes to the erosion of francophones in Nova Scotia.
Thank you for your attention.