Official Languages Committee on May 7th, 2018

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

You are pushing it. Excuse me, Mr. Bernier. I have the floor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

One moment please, Mr. Arsenault.

Mr. Bernier, could you keep your comments focused on the francophone community outside Quebec, francophones, and francophone immigration?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Yes. I will have a question about that soon.

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

We don't want to hear the other questions.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

In your opinion, how many people, francophones and non-francophones, will cross the border irregularly from now until the end of the year? Of that number, how many of them might be francophone?

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

Mr. Chair, the member is continuing to flout the Standing Orders.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Bernier, I repeat that any questions for the minister must be related to his presentation. I remind you that we are examining francophone immigration.

Your questions deal with a much broader issue than we are dealing with here this afternoon, so could you please focus your question on francophone communities?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

I would like to ask the minister to answer and then I will ask a question that isn't so broad.

Do you have something to say about that?

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

I don't know what your question is. You said that we put 50,000 people into something. I don't know what you're referring to.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

No. An extra 50 people were hired to process claims. I would like to know how long it takes to process each one.

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

Are you talking about the Immigration and Refugee Board?

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

Yes.

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

Yes, part of budget 2018 made a very important investment of $74 million for faster processing of refugee claims through the Immigration and Refugee Board. That will result in 17,000 more refugee cases being heard every year on top of the existing capacity of the IRB, and faster processing of asylum claims, to less than 12 months for those who are crossing the border irregularly.

The reason for additional funding is so that we can reach those decisions quickly. Those who have a legitimate claim for protection can stay, and the other ones can be removed.

[Maxime Bernier, Conservative, Beauce, QC]

I believe I still have a minute left.

With regard to our francophone friends, New Brunswick is asking that 33% of immigrants be francophone and Manitoba 7%. What exactly are you going to do to ensure that both provinces get their desired quota of francophone immigrants?

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

With New Brunswick, we are aware of that target, and we encourage them with their target. We help them in every way we can, beginning with signing an annex. Within the immigration agreement that we reached with New Brunswick, there is a separate annex for francophone immigration. That's how focused we are on this issue. That means sharing information with them to better help attract francophone immigrants to New Brunswick using the Atlantic immigration pilot so they can not only attract but retain French language speakers in the province.

Expanding the study and stay program beyond Nova Scotia into all of the Atlantic provinces will help New Brunswick, because they'll be able to keep more French-speaking international students in New Brunswick as permanent residents from places like Université de Moncton.

All of those efforts will help build more capacity and services for settlement service organizations to create a more welcoming community.

Then the outreach is really important. New Brunswick has been really good at joining the federal government in terms of outreach for more skilled immigrants from francophone communities to come to Canada.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Bernier.

Mr. Boissonnault, you have the floor.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's very kind, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you for being with us.

Thank you for working so closely with the francophone community in Canada and abroad. You are a strong ally of the francophonie and the LGBTQ2 community, another subject that I care a lot about.

I have a quick question. What were you most proud of with the express entry changes that have now doubled the numbers?

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

I was proud of the fact that we made those changes, because we wanted to drive those numbers higher. We wanted to increase the number of francophone immigrants who were coming through the express entry system. By making a small, but necessary change in June 2017, by giving more points to applicants in the express entry system who demonstrate strong French language skills, we have seen a doubling in the number of successful francophone applicants who have come through the express entry system. That's a huge source of pride to all of us because that's exactly what we wanted to achieve.

If we can double that number in such a short period of time, we're hopeful that this trend will continue to go up, and hopefully triple or quadruple.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

That's excellent.

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

That's my basic answer.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Minister, I think that's great.

Mr. Chair, I think that's a victory for the committee given all the hard work that it has done on francophone immigration.

Minister, what else were you happy to work on with the department to get francophone skilled workers and supports in place for francophone immigrants across the country upon arrival? I notice that Pearson International Airport is part of it, but how do we expand that?

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

I think you start with Pearson International Airport, because that's where the majority of francophone newcomers are landing in Canada. We have to get it right at Pearson, and we have to move on that very quickly.

In terms of the official languages plan, there is also new money, and that's something I'd really like to communicate to this committee. There's a lot of new money that has also come under the general envelope of settlement and integration. In every successive year we've been in government, we have increased the money available for settlement and integration programs for all newcomers. That, of course, includes francophone newcomers. We will make sure that this money goes to community groups to address your concern, sir, and to make sure that they have not only the right programming and the right capacity, but also the right people delivering the programming.

We'll start with Pearson International Airport and move towards all the other landing zones to make sure that this first hand-off and reception of francophone newcomers is done by a francophone community service organization that delivers francophone-oriented settlement services for newcomers.

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I have a question about Alberta.

Yesterday, I played the role of Governor General.

It was a great honour.

I was the Governor General for the Alberta youth Parliament organized by Francophonie jeunesse de l'Alberta. I gave royal assent to legislative measures and even read the throne speech the day before.

I think it's one queen speaking with the voice of another, but that's a joke for later.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Minister, what are we doing with individual provinces that are looking to increase their francophone numbers? We're going to 340,000 in 2020. I don't want to see the francophone community in Alberta shrink.