Evidence of meeting #23 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was tests.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Christine Holke
Lucie Lecomte  Committee Researcher
David Manicom  Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Corinne Prince-St-Amand  Director General, Integration and Foreign Credentials Referral Office, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Stefanie Beck  Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Donald Cochrane  Senior Director, International Region, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

There is no problem.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Thank you.

9:10 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

If there are no other comments, let us bring in the witnesses who are waiting outside.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

That is too bad. We still have some time. We still have ten or 15 minutes. We could discuss the four questions, if we had them.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC

Yes, I agree.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Do you want to discuss them right away?

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

Yes.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

All right. Let's proceed.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

The witnesses will take ten or 15 minutes to get settled.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Does someone have the four questions at hand?

9:15 a.m.

Lucie Lecomte Committee Researcher

I will check whether I have the document.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

That would be good.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

I agree.

Mrs. Boucher, you have the floor.

9:15 a.m.

Conservative

Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC

Mr. Choquette wants to speak.

9:15 a.m.

NDP

François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC

I think that instead we should take the time to read the document properly and discuss it. We can take five or 10 minutes at the next meeting. It will not take long.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

All right.

Mr. Samson, you have the floor.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS

I support my colleague's suggestion.

9:15 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

All right. That will let the clerk return the document to you. As Mr. Choquette suggests, we will take five minutes at the next meeting to review the document.

We will now get back to the roadmap and immigration in minority francophone communities.

This morning we have with us, from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, David Manicom, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy; Stefanie Beck, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services; Corinne Prince-St-Amand, Director General, Integration and Foreign Credentials Referral Office; and Donald Cochrane, Senior Director, International Region.

Welcome to the Official Languages Committee. We are going to hear your presentation for about 10 minutes, after which we will go to questions and comments from members of the committee.

Mr. Manicom, I understand that you are making the presentation. You have the floor.

9:15 a.m.

David Manicom Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My name is David Manicom and I am the Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic and Program Policy at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

I am here today with my colleagues Stefanie Beck, Corinne Prince-St-Amand and Donald Cochrane. We are very pleased to be here before you today to discuss francophone immigration outside of Quebec.

Let me begin by speaking more broadly about our work at IRCC, which affects Canada's economy, security, and cultural makeup.

Our department facilitates the migration of permanent and temporary residents. We unite families and protect people displaced and persecuted elsewhere. We we work hard to integrate newcomers, manage migration, and enable travel that promotes Canadian interests while protecting our health, safety, and security.

Our programs cover all aspects of migration, settlement, and citizenship. Under temporary migration, we facilitate the entry of business visitors, students, tourists, people on family visits, and temporary workers.

We support the development of a strong and prosperous country by bringing in permanent economic migrants across Canada. We support family reunification and provide for humanitarian considerations to be factored into decisions concerning prospective immigrants.

As I said, we protect the displaced and persecuted, we help newcomers make the transition to social and economic life in their new homes, we encourage and facilitate naturalization as citizens, and we seek to make people aware of the meaning of citizenship, its importance, the requirements to attain it, and the responsibilities that come with it. While we manage the movement of people, we also aim to protect the health, safety, and security of Canadians.

The success of our immigration system depends on ensuring that the hundreds of thousands of newcomers who arrive in Canada each year are welcomed and integrated into the Canadian family.

With all that in mind, Mr. Chair, I will now speak specifically about the ways Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada encourages and manages francophone immigration.

Over the past several years, we have taken many steps to attract more French-speaking newcomers to Canada and we will continue to do so. I should note that I am focusing on francophone immigration outside of Quebec due to the immigration provisions of the Canada-Quebec Accord, under which Quebec has responsibility for the selection of immigrants to that province.

Our department undertakes a number of activities to encourage francophone immigration in Francophone minority communities. It is also working to achieve the francophone immigration targets of: 4% of economic immigrants by 2018 and 4.4% of the total number of immigrants settling outside Quebec by 2023.

We have increased promotion and recruitment activities overseas to include more targeted activities by visa offices to promote immigration to francophone minority communities, information sessions available by web conference to candidates around the world, as well as various events promoting the Express Entry system.

Our missions in France, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Mexico work with provinces and territories, and francophone minority communities, to encourage French-speaking foreign nationals interested in immigrating to Canada to consider francophone communities outside Quebec.

Our department also encourages the use of the Provincial Nominee Program as an avenue to permanent residency for potential French-speaking newcomers. We pursue collaboration with francophone minority communities to explore new measures to increase the numbers of French-speaking newcomers. As well, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada works with employers to promote skilled francophone foreign nationals for permanent jobs in Canada. To that end, earlier this year, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced the re-establishment of the Labour Market Impact Assessment Exemption for skilled francophone temporary foreign workers.

Since June 1, the Mobilité francophone stream of the International Mobility Program has exempted employers from the LMIA process when they hire francophone workers from abroad on a temporary basis in managerial, professional and skilled trades occupations to work in francophone communities outside Quebec. This exemption makes it easier for employers to efficiently recruit French-speaking foreign workers to highly-skilled jobs on a temporary basis.

We know that many successful permanent resident applicants start out as temporary workers in Canada, and that is increasingly true. Once they are in Canada and working, we expect that many will want to make a commitment to stay for the long term and become Canadian.

The primary goal of the program, then, is the retention of new French-speaking workers in francophone minority communities.

Mr. Chair, in the last ten years, the proportion of French-speaking economic permanent residents admitted to Canada outside of Quebec has remained at 1.4% of the national total, far from that 4% target I mentioned earlier.

In order to reach our target, one of the things we hope to do is to encourage more French-speaking international students to remain in Canada after their studies are finished, and to help them to do so. We are also working in collaboration with Francophone organizations, communities, and provincial departments to discuss ways we can improve our outcomes, and how together we can best support essential integration services for francophone newcomers.

In March, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship also met with the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes at their 10th annual Journée de reflexion sur l'immigration francophone, which receives funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

The department wants to be able to meet the needs of frontline service providers offering French services to newcomers. We do this work through partnerships and collaborations.

For instance, we continue to support and build upon the work of the 13 Réseaux en immigration francophone, or Francophone Immigration Networks, that receive funding from our department. Since their inception in 2003, these networks have helped foster a dialogue about the needs of francophone newcomers in all provinces outside Quebec. In collaboration with local and regional partners, the Réseaux en immigration francophone have mobilized community players and governments. This has led to better quality services for francophone newcomers.

This type of collaboration is increasingly important as we work to reach our targets, not only in attracting French-speaking newcomers to Canada, but also in welcoming, integrating, and retaining them in francophone minority communities.

The department recently revised its definition of "French-speaking immigrant" to better reflect the reality of French-speaking immigration. The new definition for "French-speaking immigrant" is an immigrant for whom French is the first Canadian official language of usage. This is more inclusive than the previous definition, and enhances the identification of the principal source countries of French-speaking immigration.

We are aware of the challenges and the opportunities in boosting francophone immigration to Canada. We remain committed to our department's role in helping to foster strong, vibrant francophone communities across the country.

Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak to this committee on behalf of IRCC. My colleagues and I are happy to answer any questions that committee members may wish to ask.

9:25 a.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Thank you very much, Mr. Manicom.

We will now proceed with questions and comments, with everyone having 6 minutes to speak.

We will start with Mr. Généreux.

Mr. Généreux, you have 6 minutes.

9:25 a.m.

Conservative

Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to thank the witnesses for being here this morning.

Mr. Manicom, evidently your department's target of having francophones outside Quebec account for 4% of economic permanent residents has not been met, since the proportion is still 1.4%. What do you think are the main reasons that explain why you have not been able to reach that target?

9:25 a.m.

Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

That is a good question.

If we knew the answer, we could meet the challenge better. Generally speaking, francophone immigrants have a tendency to settle in Quebec. It is not easy to persuade francophone immigrants that they can settle elsewhere than in Quebec.

Previously, selection programs favoured immigrants who spoke one or the other of Canada's two official languages, without distinguishing between them. There was no measure at that time for favouring applicants who had French language skills, even though not very many francophones settle in most of the provinces, except New Brunswick. In my opinion, our main challenge in terms of immigration outside Quebec is to make a chink in the wall that keeps francophone immigrants attracted to Quebec.

9:30 a.m.

Conservative

Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

This morning, I heard a report on CBC radio about the cost of our French tests for immigrants. I was astounded by what I heard. If I understood correctly, immigrants who arrive in Canada have to pass a French test or an English test, as the case may be. It seems that the cost of the French test is higher than the English test.

Am I mistaken about that?

9:30 a.m.

Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic and Program Policy, Department of Citizenship and Immigration

David Manicom

You understood correctly. We have just received the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages. We have several tests for English, including the IELTS which is administered by Cambridge University. For French, we have only one test approved by the government of Canada, and that test comes from France.

9:30 a.m.

Conservative

Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC

You are saying there is no Canadian test.