Thank you for your questions.
It is very interesting. There are two different ways of integrating immigrants.
Economic immigrants arrive in our province prepared. They have had a chance to choose the province they want to live in and have a good reason for having chosen one province rather than another. As a result of their preparation, they are able to take various factors into account. They have communicated with people, obtained information, and made a choice.
Refugees unfortunately have not made that choice. They knew they were going to Canada, but they had virtually no idea of the province where they would have to integrate. Consequently, they do not understand the concept of bilingualism or even that of the francophone minority community. The majority of those people were not selected based on a point system, and we have no idea of their level of education when they arrive here.
Some refugees never went to school, and others have fallen far behind in refugee camps. Others have experienced so much trauma and have never had a chance to overcome or understand what they experienced. It is only when they find themselves in Canada, in a situation in which they feel safe, that they begin to reflect on their experience and remember everything.
The process is much slower and longer for refugees. We offer them all kinds of resources. First, they are financially supported by the federal government for one year. They are also supported psychologically, emotionally, and morally. For some, it is like dying and being reborn, since we teach them everything.
In the case of economic immigrants, the debate takes place at a certain level because they have well-established objectives when they arrive here, even if they do not always understand the concept of living in a minority as a francophone. We explain it to them, but the approach takes place at a certain level.
That is the difference between the two. Was I clear?