With your permission, I will tell you how the francophone immigration dossier came to be on the radar screen of minority francophone communities.
Before I became Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, I was Principal of Glendon College in Toronto. At the time, I was struck by the diversity of that environment, where all communities were represented. The anglophone population of Toronto was increasing exponentially as the majority welcomed many immigrants. On the francophone side, however, we had very few, and we had no infrastructure yet to receive francophones. Once I became commissioner, I carried out two studies on francophone immigration because I felt we absolutely had to get the federal government involved in that. Today, we are much better equipped to receive immigrants than we were 15 or 20 years ago.
Today, Toronto's francophonie is rich with diversity. Some immigrants even have trouble integrating because they do not speak English. It's important that the francophone communities have a nexus, a place where they can gather. Francophone immigrants also must be told that wherever they are in the world, their francophone identity has a place in Toronto and that they can preserve it because it enriches Canada. Moreover, they will be able to study and live in French. We will even help them to become bilingual, because that's necessary in Toronto. Immigration is in full expansion and its momentum should continue. Moreover, there is a demographic mobility in Canada that brings many francophones to Toronto from Quebec and elsewhere, and this will not change. And so we must be ready.