Official Languages Committee on Nov. 17th, 2016

[Gaël Corbineau]

In St. John's in particular, even though we haven't met the 5% francophone target in recent years, all jurisdictions have made significant efforts in terms of language, which was not the case previously. One of the concerns we have with service delivery is sharing jurisdictions between the federal government and the provincial government.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to use the example of Service Canada again. With respect to the employment assistance agreement that was signed between the province and the federal government in 2010, if I remember correctly, language was completely dismissed, and we lost services in French in some regions. I'm thinking of Labrador in particular here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Corbineau and Mrs. Poirier.

This brings our meeting with you to an end.

On behalf of all members of the committee, thank you very much for your presentations and for being here. Please rest assured that your comments will be taken into consideration.

We will suspend the session for a few minutes.

Members of the committee, please note that we have been advised that there will be bells in a few minutes for a vote at 10:30 a.m. So we will suspend for a moment, after which we’ll hear from Mr. Nahimana from Nova Scotia. At that point, we will see how to adjust the time accordingly.

We’ll take a short break and resume in a few minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Colleagues, we resume the meeting.

I would like to welcome Emmanuel Nahimana from Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse.

In light of the requirements I mentioned earlier, I will ask you to make a presentation that will cover two areas, one on immigration and one on the roadmap, Mr. Nahimana.

There will be no allocated time for each committee member to ask questions. Instead, I will allow a question here and there to proceed as quickly as possible.

Given that Mr. Nahimana has come from Nova Scotia, we will start right away. We're listening, Mr. Nahimana.

[Emmanuel Nahimana, Project Manager, Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse]

Mr. Chair and members of the committee, good morning.

Let me thank you for inviting the Réseau en Immigration Francophone de la Nouvelle-Écosse, RIFNE, of which I am the manager, to appear before you to speak to two priority issues for francophone communities in a minority setting, the roadmap and immigration in francophone minority communities.

The RIFNE is one of 13 francophone immigration networks in Canada. The RIFNE was born under the roadmap and the strategic plan to foster immigration in francophone minority communities. That’s how the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse, FANE, the official organization representing the Acadian and francophone community of Nova Scotia, signed the contribution agreements in 2006, first, with the Government of Canada through its Department of Citizenship and Immigration and, second, with the provincial government, represented by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration. The RIFNE brings together key community organizations that meet four times a year to assess their action plan and strategic plan for francophone immigration.

In my first part, I will comment on the roadmap and then go on to the second part on immigration in francophone minority communities.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I cannot begin my remarks without stressing your willingness to act and your commitment as leaders of official languages in Canada. Canadians expect a lot from you, especially our francophone minority communities, as we plan to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Confederation.

Although I'm far from being an expert in the field, I suspect that the main intent of the roadmap is to give Canadians from all backgrounds, without distinction, an equal opportunity to be served in their language by departments and other federal institutions, and to empower them to contribute positively to services in their own language.

Across the province, the Acadian community has made significant progress, particularly in the area of education. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our dear member, Darrell Samson, who has led the community council for over 10 years.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

There has been significant progress in the areas of education, arts, culture, economy and immigration through funding programs primarily under this roadmap. We appreciate the financial commitment of the departments of Citizenship and Immigration, Justice, Health, Canadian Heritage, and other federal agencies that have contributed and continue to contribute to the development of our community.

As an example for Nova Scotia, let me mention the management of French-language education from kindergarten to university, the creation of many organizations that work to develop our community and, as a result, the increase in French-language services.

However, in my humble opinion, there is still a lot of work to be done. In our communities, we often see disappointments and frustrations. For example, in terms of promoting French-language services, during the 2015 summer consultations, the majority of stakeholders pointed out that francophone minority communities were still not known as a destination for immigrants who prefer to use French in Canada. Nova Scotia is no exception. We find it deplorable that we no longer have the means to promote our beautiful region and our beautiful province, its wealth, and the history of our province's francophonie to those interested in immigrating to our country because of the abolition of the funding to community partners through Destination Canada.

We can see that a great deal of effort has been made in recent years to develop community vitality.

All the community organizations, which are largely responsible for this vitality, have been struggling with chronic underfunding for years. In Nova Scotia, we believe that, without additional funding support for operations, some 10 out of the 28 organizations may be forced to close in the near future. It would be a disaster.

Still along the lines of vitality, one of the strengths of our communities is collaboration. To survive the whole year with the little money they receive from the various departments and agencies, the organizations join forces, either to share facilities—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Nahimana, allow me to interrupt. The bell we’ve just heard indicates the House has just been called to order.

You may continue.

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

Thank you.

Organizations pool their efforts and share space, materials and activities. However, this approach is, to a certain extent, a hindrance to the development and growth of francophone communities.

As part of the roadmap, federal institutions, each in their respective area, should provide financial support to community organizations to enable them to fulfill their ambitions and thereby contribute to their development. In practical terms, some organizations do not even receive funding for their operations and are forced to survive from one project to another. Others are no longer able to meet in person with the members of their community councils. Still others cannot afford to provide training and essential tools, such as computers, for their office. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, our community needs support.

Another important aspect of francophone communities is early childhood. At this stage of their learning, young French-speaking children develop their sense of belonging to the community and build their identity. Unfortunately, French-language child care needs are critical in our francophone communities. Immigrant parents, such as those in their host communities, are forced to use English-language day cares. It's frustrating for parents.

In addition, this problem has significant negative consequences on the operations and recruitment in our French-language schools and universities. As you know, the day cares supply those schools. We can go as far as saying that the lack of French-language services causes a very serious problem for the transmission of language and culture.

In closing, the examples I have mentioned in this presentation are only a few aspects of the challenges faced by the francophone community in my province. Mr. Chair, let me take this opportunity to recommend to the federal government to use mechanisms that safeguard the full linguistic duality of our francophone communities and, to that end, to put in place strategies that support community programs in all sectors.

In a speech made on October 27, 2016, here in the House of Commons, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Mélanie Joly, indicated that the new action plan would be a priority. We hope that this plan will materialize, keeping in mind our community’s real needs, which were expressed during consultations like this one, to foster its full development.

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Nahimana.

We will proceed a little differently.

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

We could move on to Mr. Nahimana's presentation on immigration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You're right, Mr. Samson, we could continue with the second part of the testimony.

Mr. Nahimana, I will give you a few minutes to make your presentation on immigration.

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will try to be brief.

Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse has been providing free services to French-speaking newcomers for 10 years.

As an immigration service provider, Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse has three main objectives: to increase and retain the number of French-speaking newcomers in Nova Scotia, to foster the integration of the newcomers into the province, more specifically within the Acadian and francophone community, and to increase the reception and integration capacity of Acadian and francophone communities in Nova Scotia.

Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse is expanding its services. We now have settlement, integration and community connection services, for programs both before and after newcomers' arrival. To better achieve our goals, we work with other community partners, be they francophone or anglophone, to deliver services effectively and efficiently.

Before I get to the heart of the matter, I would like to begin by thanking IRCC and the Nova Scotia Immigration Office for their contribution to our activities. However, Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse would like the federal government to correct the inequities that have been around for 10 years between immigrant service providers. Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse is the only provider of immigrant settlement services—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Nahimana, allow me to interrupt you briefly. Given that the bells are ringing to indicate that there is a vote, I need the unanimous consent of the members to continue the meeting for a few more minutes and allow you to finish your presentation. We'll try to wrap up the meeting within 10 minutes. Do the members of the committee agree?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Please continue. We have about 10 minutes left before we have to go to the House to vote.

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

Thank you.

Immigration francophone Nouvelle-Écosse is the province's only provider of settlement and integration services in French. Unfortunately, we are sad to see that the centre cannot meet all the needs of French-speaking immigrants because the services are extremely limited.

I have been an employee with the centre for over eight years. I never miss an opportunity to say and I will continue to say that French-speaking immigrants in Nova Scotia need to be served in their language. We would like to be able to provide our French-speaking clients with the following services: crisis intervention services—in cases of mental health, family violence and others—refugee reception and resettlement services, French as a second language courses, child care services while immigrant parents use the services offered by our organization.

As you can see—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mr. Nahimana, if I may, I am going to suggest that, instead of continuing your presentation, you submit your text to the clerk of the committee. She will include your presentation with all our deliberations. We want to have time for two or three questions, and we absolutely have to finish this meeting at 10:15 a.m. Each member of the committee will quickly ask you a question.

We'll start with Mrs. Boucher.

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

Okay, Mr. Chair.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question won't be very long, Mr. Nahimana.

Thank you for coming to meet with us and I'm sorry for the inconvenience. We didn't know there would be votes this morning. I will repeat the same question I asked earlier.

Many francophone organizations, particularly in the area of immigration, have told us that funds had been taken away from them and given to anglophone organizations for the reception of immigrants in minority communities. Has that also happened in Nova Scotia?

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

I could not confirm that sad reality for Nova Scotia. If it is truly a reality, I would not be able to confirm that this has happened, but I want our mandate to be respected so that we can fulfill our mandate, and that French-speaking immigrants, whether they are economic immigrants or refugees, are truly served by the service provider—

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

In French.

[Emmanuel Nahimana]

Yes. It has to be done in French, instead of the money going directly to our anglophone collaborators. That's the case with French-speaking refugees, for example. We really need that category in our community to ensure our vitality.

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

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

Mr. Samson, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Nahimana, I will ask two questions very quickly. It's actually a two-part question.

First, tell me a little about Destination Canada. As an organization in the immigration sector, can you recruit there? Second, what are the eligibility criteria?