Thank you.
Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Gaël Corbineau and I am the director general of the Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador.
The Fédération des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador was established in 1977 and is a not-for-profit organization working to preserve and promote the rights and interests of our communities. Since 2007, the FFTNL has been working in support of francophone immigration in its communities. In 2010, it created an internal initiative to promote francophone immigration. The purpose of this initiative is to showcase our province as a destination for immigrants from francophone countries and to encourage employers to hire bilingual employees from abroad when they cannot find employees in Canada. Our mission is to bring candidates and potential employers together.
In January 2011, thanks to provincial and federal funding, the FFTNL established the Réseau d'immigration francophone de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador. This network has a year-round, full-time coordinator. Its goal is to make life easier for new arrivals. The objectives of the network are as follows: to increase the number of francophone immigrants to Newfoundland and Labrador; to maximize the potential offered by permanent residence programs; and to improve newcomers’ ability to integrate into the province’s francophone communities.
To achieve these objectives, our network established an advisory board made up of key representatives from the francophone community and the field of immigration. The board monitors the development of francophone immigration in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its members are: the Association communautaire francophone de Saint-Jean, in the provincial capital, the Association francophone du Labrador, the Association régionale de la côte Ouest, our provincial RDEE, the Association for New Canadians, or ANC, the Refugee and Immigrant Advisory Council, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the provincial government's Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism.
Newfoundland and Labrador has made great progress in recent years in raising awareness of and promoting francophone immigration. The RIF is very active in the francophone community and among immigration agencies, such as the Partenariat local en immigration de Saint-Jean, and the province’s coordinating committee on newcomer integration. We also have a presence in the province’s business community.
Despite this success, francophone newcomers to our province are at a disadvantage compared with the majority population. They do not have any direct services in French. Among the services unavailable to them are: settlement services, pre-arrival services, integration services, immigrant and family support and counselling services, refugee services, international student services, and educational support services for students.
The FFTNL believes that the federal government's francophone immigration plan will be successful only if communities have the right tools as well as an adaptable mandate and flexible funding. We are encouraged by initiatives such as the outreach tours to Canadian embassies in Paris, Tunis, Rabat and Dakar, and by the introduction of the employer liaison network. We are anxiously awaiting the introduction of one or more measures to include a “francophone lens” in the express entry system, which is the new system for managing applications for permanent residence.
Minister Alexander's statements clearly support francophone immigration, but we are now waiting for him to take action. However, the federation is concerned by certain federal decisions that are detrimental to francophone immigration. For example, cancelling funding for francophone communities to participate in the Destination Canada employment fair, and abruptly ending the Francophone Significant Benefit program last September.
It should be noted that we cannot meet this government’s goal for increasing francophone immigration unless we have targeted assistance, because our communities are at a definite disadvantage when competing for immigrants. As I said earlier, official language minority communities must have the proper tools to be successful and to meet the outcomes established by the federal government.
Another challenge is the identification of French-speaking immigrants according to their first official language spoken. We often lack data on newcomers whose mother tongue is neither English nor French but who speak French fluently. As a result, these clients are not systematically referred to francophone communities since they were not identified as francophones at their point of entry into Canada.
Too often, we meet immigrants who have been here for months or even years but do not know that there is a francophone community here to support them. This is a particularly cruel blow for these newcomers as the lack of support often makes their integration longer and more difficult. They and their families run the risk of being completely assimilated by the linguistic majority.
But it is also a significant blow to our communities because they lose members, to the detriment of our institutions and especially our French-language schools.
In closing, the FFTNL would like to present several recommendations that we believe are consistent with the priorities of the government and our communities.
First, that the government integrate a francophone lens into the express entry system to help us at least partially compensate for a disadvantage in attracting newcomers.
Second, that the government work at the community and regional levels to promote francophone immigration, taking into account the specific characteristics of these communities and regions.
Third, that the provincial government be asked to serve as policy levers for francophone immigration, and that the partnership between the two levels of government be strengthened.
Finally, that communities have the tools they need to take effective strategic action on francophone immigration in the areas of immigrant recruitment, settlement and integration, and particularly the operational capacity to offer direct services.
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for your attention.