Official Languages Committee on March 26th, 2015

[Jacques Dubé]

In Moncton, we have the Centre d'accueil et d'accompagnement francophone des immigrants du Sud-Est du Nouveau-Brunswick. That organization provides retention and integration services that are funded in large part by the Government of Canada. There is also the Multicultural Association of the Greater Moncton Area , MAGMA, which provides guidance and integration services. It works mainly in English, but also has a francophone clientele.

There are two organizations that are funded in large part by the Government of Canada, with the assistance of the province. We also invest a little money in that. The municipality works in cooperation with MAGMA and the Mosaïq organization, which receives funds from the federal government for multicultural festivals, and these activities are expanding at this time.

There are also economic organizations that receive funds from ACOA for mentoring francophone immigrants. We created La Ruche, an organization that helps francophone immigrants set up in business. As I was saying earlier, francophone immigration has to depend on local, provincial and federal partnerships. One level of government cannot do everything and that is certainly true of the municipalities. That said, by using common resources and strategies, as we have done in Moncton, success is possible.

[Andrée-Anne Martel]

The AJEFO is very grateful for the roadmap. We find that it generates very positive spinoffs. AJEFO is financed by the Department of Justice, but not necessarily in the area of immigration. The two pillars I mentioned earlier have allowed our organization to develop its projects for the next four years. I talked about the “information” pillar. Its purpose is to allow citizens to become informed about our justice system. I also talked about the “training” pillar, whose purpose is to help lawyers to serve that population.

The roadmap has not only allowed us to focus our mandate, but also to set up partnerships and diversify our sources of funds for these projects. I talked about the Ottawa Legal Information Centre, which is entirely funded by the Department of Justice through the roadmap. This allows us to set up financial partnerships on a province-wide scale, and of course in the city.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

Do I have any time left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You have three minutes.

[Marie-France Kenny]

I do want to say that the FCFA has worked for more than 15 years with Citizenship and Immigration and that as a general rule our relationship has been good. I am a businesswoman and I have a company. Before I launched it, I prepared a comprehensive business plan to maximize its impact. This is the type of coherent strategy that would allow us to use the funds even more effectively, and that is what is lacking.

As for the roadmap, since the department already had the $120 million allocated to language training, it is difficult to determine what the impact would be on francophone communities. How many francophone newcomers have had access to these funds to learn French? The funds were already there. This is not a new investment.

As for the $30 million or so aimed at strengthening capacities,

it's not, “if you build it, they will come”. They need to know we are there.

I am sure you will agree that when you visit a Canadian embassy in a francophone country and you hear about French Canada, the first thing that comes to mind is Quebec. So if there is no promotion of francophone communities to emphasize the fact that there are also francophones outside of Quebec, no one will go to those regions. It is all well and good to strengthen settlement and integration services, but in order to use them, there have to be people. It is in that sense that a global strategy is missing.

[Costas Menegakis, Conservative, Richmond Hill, ON]

I heard a little bit about the new express entry system. Contrary to some of what I heard here today, I can say in my capacity as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration that we did in fact hold widespread consultations on the issue of express entry.

The program opened in January of this year, and we are seeing overwhelming interest in the program worldwide, and I might add, considerable interest from francophone people around the world. Some of that will become evident shortly as the program rolls out.

This is a new stream of immigration. Express Entry gives francophone newcomers the opportunity to settle in Canada more quickly. Do you think that this new program will be beneficial to francophone communities outside Quebec and allow them to attract talent to their regions?

I will begin with you, Mr. Dubé.

[Jacques Dubé]

As I mentioned in the beginning of my presentation, Express Entry is a very important program and will help grow the urban population of Moncton, a municipality that has quite a large linguistic minority.

We recommend that you grant additional points to immigrants to encourage them to establish in areas outside Quebec. Moncton is fortunate because it has a French-language university where there are a lot of foreign students. We can work with that pool of foreign students once they have finished their studies. We are trying to develop that source of immigration.

However, we go to France and Belgium with the governments of Canada and New Brunswick and we knock on the doors of immigrants who take part, for instance, in the Destination Canada or Destination New Brunswick programs with the help of the government. If you gave those people additional points to encourage them to settle in our area, this would give us a hand up. They must choose to go somewhere to find a job or open a business.

I think it would be very important to consider adding points for that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you very much.

I will now give the floor to Ms. St-Denis.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My first question is addressed to Ms. Martel and Ms. Ouellet.

Does informing immigrants about the legal system in Ontario include information about the importance of official languages? In other words, does the immigrant who arrives in our country know that francophones have linguistic claims in Canada in their communities? If not, do they come here because your projects are impressive? I don't know them, but your projects seem very pertinent. I would like to go to a law camp for francophones.

Has the immigrant who arrives here been told that there is a French-language justice system and that he can have recourse to it? I believe you said that 50% of people defend themselves. Do all of the fine projects you have set up have a concrete effect? Also, do you think that the federal government is sufficiently promoting the place of francophones in the communities where the immigrants settle?

[Andrée-Anne Martel]

Yes, we see that the projects and legislation on immigrants have benefits.

For instance, when immigrants come to see us at the Legal Information Centre, we talk to them about the three Ontario laws that guarantee services in French, i.e. the French-Language Services Act, the Courts of Justice Act, and the Criminal Code. We even talk about this to the Grade 5 students who register for our law camps.

I can give you a concrete example. In the law camps, when we talk about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Grade 5 students usually know about section 23 and the others that have to do with language rights.

At the Legal Information Centre, we can talk about the legislation that governs French services with immigrant clients. However, I can't confirm whether the immigrants are aware of the laws.

Could you repeat the second question about promoting the place of francophones, please?

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I asked whether the federal government sufficiently promotes the importance of French within the Canadian legal system, to say that this exists and that it is important? Does the federal government talk about this enough?

[Andrée-Anne Martel]

That is an excellent question.

There is more and more publicity about French services and language rights. Over the past few years the government has made efforts to mention language rights and services in French. I'm thinking, for instance, of recent reports concerning access to justice in French.

I'm also thinking of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario, which implemented a report in 2012 on access to justice in French. The report talks about francophones and access to justice in French and attempts to solve the problems francophones may encounter with the French-language justice system.

For instance, in the report I just mentioned, they explain that the Courts of Justice Act designates 23 francophone regions in Ontario, and the French Services Act designates 25 such regions. This means that a person may go to a court house and want to file papers in French, but the person behind the desk may be unable to respond in French if he or she speaks only English.

Yes, these issues are being discussed more and more and recommendations are being made. Organizations like the Association of French-Speaking Jurists of Ontario, of course, are working on these issues. That is a part of our principal mandate.

I don't know whether my colleague has something to add on this.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I would like to put a question to the representatives of the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité de l' Ontario and the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada. However, if I have any time left, I will put my last question to Ms. Kenny.

I only have a little time left. What is your approach with Quebec employers? Regarding employers like Québecor, Bombardier and Saputo, who are also present in the other provinces, do you adopt a particular approach to these employers in francophone communities, either in Canada or in Ontario?

[Daniel Sigouin]

Regarding the question on territories, there is no particular approach. We want to convince employers in Ontario to hire francophone immigrants, to emphasize the importance of doing so and of promoting the community as a destination for francophones. We have to work with local stakeholders and municipalities to do that promotion and involve the employers.

It is important to understand that being able to keep a francophone immigrant in a community has economic value for the employer. We can attract immigrants and give them positions, but if they don't want to stay in a community, they don't want to stay. There are costs involved in that for the employer. The capacity of retaining that immigrant in a community has economic value for the business. And so the approach is the same for the...

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Do the employers see an advantage in hiring bilingual francophones? Is it an advantage? I saw a report on that produced by New Brunswick. Acadians think that the fact that people speak both languages constitutes an advantage.

[Roukya Abdi Aden]

For many employers that can be an advantage, since a business wants to develop markets. It is really an asset when we provide a candidate who meets the profile for the position and can develop new markets. I am thinking, for instance, of a business here that operates in English only but wants to receive the representatives of a Quebec business in French. Having a francophone employee is an asset, and people know it. Some jump on the opportunity and encourage that. It can be an advantage, depending on the region.

They always look favourably on the fact that the candidate knows the first language they use well and knows another language. It is always an added value. It can certainly be a sales argument.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I have a brief question for Ms. Kenny.

Ms. Kenny, in light of your experience—a period of six years and more—if you had to mention a single thing, a single proposal or recommendation, what would it be?

[Marie-France Kenny]

Are you talking about immigration?

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I am talking about francophone immigration and its impact on francophones in minority settings.

[Marie-France Kenny]

I would like to tell you that all's well with the world.

In terms of immigration, as we have said, we need a coordinated strategy, a federal strategy developed in consultation with the communities, municipalities and provinces. We think all stakeholders need to participate, but we don’t need a Band-Aid here and a Band-Aid there to cover up any cuts or scrapes. We really need a strategy, but it has to be coordinated.

You know, the immigration continuum starts with promoting our communities. Afterwards, we can look at recruitment, at everything settlement-related, and so on. Unfortunately, all those steps have been skipped. We feel that with express entry, by making us go through the same funnel as everyone else, without promoting the communities at all, we will not be able to produce the miracles we haven’t been able to produce so far with an almost similar approach. In this case, we are all going through the same funnel. That will change nothing for us compared to the current system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

You have one minute left.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Dubé, a lot of francophone students attend l'Université de Moncton. Do you know what their retention rate is?

[Jacques Dubé]

It is 63%.

[Lise St-Denis, Liberal, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

So 63% of the students who study in Moncton end up staying there?

[Jacques Dubé]

Pretty much.