Official Languages Committee on May 7th, 2018

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Okay.

I want to talk about the Federal/Provincial/Territorial Action Plan for Increasing Francophone Immigration Outside of Quebec. In my opinion, the word “community” should be included in the title because the communities are at the heart of the action. According to what the communities are telling me, this plan also lacks deadlines. The plan has targets, but no deadlines to help us determine what is going to happen. There is room for improvement there.

As far as the distribution of funding is concerned, you said that new money was being allocated to immigration. For example, $36.56 million is being allocated to the francophone integration pathway, $4.2 million to collaboration and accounting, and $29.5 million to the Immigration to Official Language Minority Communities Initiative, a sum that was already allocated but deferred.

The communities are still wondering what percentage of that money will go directly to the communities, in the pockets of the community organizations. How much money will end up in the community?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Mr. Chair, I would like to begin the answer and then pass it on to my officials so they can provide more context. It's important to note that the $40.8 million in the budget allocated new funding to the IRCC precisely for francophone immigration. I spoke about the FPT forum, and also the symposium that brought together governments and community organizations so that we can have a platform and a forum to strengthen francophone immigration into Canada, including through the FPT action plan. Most importantly, David Manicom will provide a further breakdown of some of the monies they're talking about.

[David Manicom, Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

To your question on what proportion of money will go to the communities, I can say that of the $40 million, $36 million will be devoted to the integration programs offered by the services providers in the communities.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Manicom.

Speaking of service providers, Jean Johnson president of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne had this to say:

We want these investments to be direct investments in our community groups so that we can build up our service capacity. We have to stop creating bilingual services. By that I mean anglophone institutions that hire a francophone and then says “We provide a bilingual program”.

What would you say to the president of the FCFA?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Absolutely, I agree with your concerns. It's something that we've heard loud and clear from the stakeholders, including that organization. Whenever we can ensure the provision of francophone settlement services by francophone settlement organizations, we support that. Whatever we can do as the federal government, not only to provide programming money but also to help the capacity of those organizations to deliver those services, we are more than open to doing.

You heard me speak about the importance of that first step, that first hand-off, where a francophone immigrant and their family are landing at an airport and should be received by a francophone settlement organization, not by an organization that has one francophone employee. We agree with that approach.

The question is, how do we put that policy into effect? What monies are available to redirect to that? What else can we do in our allocation for settlement and integration to ensure that francophone immigrants and newcomers receive francophone-specific settlement services from a francophone settlement organization?

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Minister.

I have another question for you.

In 2015, IRCC organized and hosted in British Columbia a national conference on settlement and integration in small centres. According to a report by the then Commissioner of Official Languages, that meeting was held in English only practically. The documentation was in English only.

From March 26 to 28, 2018, that conference was held in Red Deer. Again, everything was in English, Minister. I can prove it. People from francophone associations who attended left frustrated and felt disrespected.

What are you going to do to ensure that this does not happen again? Of course, you are taking measures regarding francophone immigration. However, when you provide services, such as these types of consultations, then you have to show respect for the francophones.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Thank you very much for the question. I share your frustration with how the francophone participants at that meeting felt about seeing products only in English. I share your frustration, and I understand the premise of your question.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Are you going to put measures in place to ensure that this does not happen again?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I'll let my official, Corinne, answer that.

[Corinne Prince, Director General, Settlement and Integration Policy Branch, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you.

As far as complaints to the Commissioner of Official Languages are concerned, discussions are under way between the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages and our department. We are co-operating fully with the OCOL.

As the minister mentioned in his presentation, the department has set up a francophone immigration policy centre. We are working with all employees to ensure that the services are offered in both official languages, especially during conferences, but also within the department.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Arsenault, the floor is yours.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I too would like to commend your tireless efforts to speak French as much as possible. Your French is improving every day and I tip my hat to you.

Roughly a year ago, we received people from Citizenship and Immigration. It was at that time that we learned how hard it is to recruit francophone immigrants. I think that every member of this committee from all parties were extremely troubled to hear that the target for francophone immigration outside Quebec was set at 4.4% and we managed to reach barely 2%. In fact, I'm not even sure if we'll reach 2%. We may not be congratulating ourselves, but we do seem to just accept this fact. You have no idea how much that pains a French-Canadian, an Acadian like me, whose family has been settled in Canada for 12 generations. It is very painful to hear that we have a hard time achieving 2%, let alone the 4.4% target.

According to the testimonies, the machine is difficult to operate. I am talking about funding, immigration, investments in cultural communities. In your presentation, you just provided the answer and I commend you for that. The Department of Finance has invested $40.8 million. Add to that the contribution from your department and that of Minister Joly. These concerted efforts address our concerns. I am sure that this will bear fruit, or at least I hope so.

Page 31 of the famous Official Languages Action Plan 2018-2023 mentions strengthening coordination at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada through the creation of a francophone immigration public policy centre.

What form will this centre take? Are we talking about a sort of sub-department or a parallel department where experts focus only on francophone immigration?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

The issue of increasing the numbers is multi-faceted. We have to consider it from the perspective of more money and funding, adequate funding, targeted money for the capacity of francophone settlement organizations, and making sure there's better outreach and marketing. This means not just targeting the usual countries that we've targeted in the past, but looking beyond France and Belgium and targeting other countries as well, making sure that the outreach is more focused. For example, instead of going there and outreaching and marketing Canada to the whole population of a certain country, maybe in addition to that, we should have groups of employers leaving here as a part of a delegation to target specific skilled French-speaking immigrants at job fairs in certain countries so that you can make those connections and they can come here, move their families, and work here.

In terms of the hub, I will let Corrine Prince speak to you in more detail on that.

[Corinne Prince]

As the minister mentioned in his speech, we have created a policy focus, a francophone immigration hub, in the settlement and integration sector, particularly in the settlement and integration policy branch, which I manage. The objective is this. Whether we're working with francophone service provider organizations across the country, or our provincial and territorial colleagues, or with employers to attempt to convince them of the benefits of hiring bilingual newcomers, as well as working within our span of programming from promotion or recruitment to selection, integration, retention, and targeted outcomes, the objective is to ensure that we're doing all of that work in a coordinated way, so that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. That is the reason we've put in place this francophone hub in the department.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Thank you, Ms. Price.

The targets for francophone immigration have not been met and there is a lot of catching up to do.

My question is more specific, Ms. Price. It seems that you were in the position last year. The thought was that having a centre that dealt only with francophone immigration would be much more practical or have a greater impact. The documents talk about strengthening coordination by creating a francophone immigration public policy centre. Is that what we're talking about?

[David Manicom]

Since I am the assistant deputy minister of Ms. Price's directorate, I will answer that question.

There are people at the department who are working on that, including our colleagues from Paris and those who deal with policies and activities. To support these efforts, an increased number of employees are working on maintaining a seamless connection. For example, when we meet the communities and employer organizations, some of our employees are strictly in charge of our overseas recruitment, not just at Destination Canada in Paris, but also in Brussels, Rabat, Mexico and many other countries.

The model used by our employees for maintaining the connection between the provinces, territories and French-language communities is also applied at the international level. As far as we're concerned, it is the most effective model.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I will now give the floor to our colleague who has been waiting for a long time, Mr. Darrell Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I really enjoyed your presentation. I want to thank your colleagues as well, of course.

Last year, there were many places in Canada where francophone immigration targets were far from being reached, as my colleagues have pointed out. Today, I feel very good because you presented a multilateral approach that I like very much for addressing the problems on the ground.

First there was that meeting between the federal, provincial, and territorial ministers responsible for immigration regarding francophone immigration. That is a major step forward that needs to be acknowledged. Then agreements started to be concluded with the provinces. Ontario and New Brunswick signed an agreement. Let's hope that the other provinces also make progress in that regard. I know that Nova Scotia is also very interested. We are talking about problems and solutions that are unique to each province in question. The provinces know that the federal government is truly focusing on increasing francophone immigration. That is a big deal.

The second problem we raised last year was the need to have a centre devoted to francophone immigration. My colleague asked a question about that and I will take it a bit further.

Thirdly, I would like to talk about the immigration reception centres. I know that you are in Toronto, where we have the Centre francophone de Toronto, but do the other provinces offer a similar service? I am thinking about the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, in Nova Scotia, and initiatives in other provinces. What are the other provinces doing to welcome francophone immigrants? Reception is a critical aspect.

Mr. Manicom said that there are people in place in several countries to work on this. Were those same people there two years ago? If so, I would point out that the 4.4% target was not reached. What will be done differently this time to achieve that objective?

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I will start the answer and then allow Mr. Manicom to complete it.

It is a very important question. I want to begin with the annexes. The two annexes to the agreements we have signed with Ontario and New Brunswick are dedicated to francophone immigration. As part of our immigration agreements, the federal government has committed to work with Ontario and New Brunswick on francophone immigration. That means, for example, sharing profile data with Ontario so that it can pick some of the francophone federal applicants destined to go to Ontario who are not aware of francophone welcoming communities. How can Ontario benefit from that? How can we coordinate and match our targets so that we both achieve them? How can we work together on the marketing?

As I said, it's moving equally not just in terms of general outreach but also in making sure that we have targeted outreach to take advantage of things like the mobility of francophones. We can take Canadian employers who are willing to hire skilled francophone workers and match them in places like Morocco, which has segments of the population who are young and have the high skill levels that are much needed by these employers.

Because you mentioned New Brunswick, the last thing I'll say is that the Atlantic immigration pilot program also presents an opportunity for all four of those provinces to use that program to attract and retain francophone immigrants. For example, New Brunswick is using its Atlantic immigration pilot program number to make sure that it adds to its target to ensure that it shores up the vitality of its francophone community. Nothing stops Nova Scotia from doing the same thing. We have a program initiative in Atlantic Canada called “study and stay”, which enables international students in Atlantic Canada to stay and become permanent residents after graduation. It will also help provinces like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to keep more francophone students in their provinces beyond their studies as permanent residents.

In terms of what is happening now in some of the international offices as opposed to before, Mr. Manicom can—

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Just to finish, though, Minister, retaining immigrants is work.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

Yes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

One piece is l'accueil and the other one is integration, but the third one is work. If they don't work, they don't stay.

[Ahmed Hussen, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

That's right.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you, minister.

Is there anything you would like to add, deputy minister?

[David Manicom]

This is really a non-partisan issue. Previous governments, whether they were Liberal or Conservative, have not had any success in this regard. Now, what has changed is that, rather than choosing between selection tools, retention tools, and tools for coordinating with the provinces, we have decided to combine all three tools into one.

The changes made to the express entry system represent the biggest policy changes for francophones in the history of Canada, and they go hand in hand with a significant increase in the funding available to communities so that an integration path is built by and for francophones in order to retain them.

For the first time, we have partnerships with the provinces that establish real targets. New Brunswick's target under the provincial nominees program is 33%. Ontario's target is 5% because Ontario has a large provincial nominee program.

This is on top of the federal express entry program, where the numbers have doubled. For the first time, success seems within our grasp.