Official Languages Committee on Nov. 24th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Welcome, everyone.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are continuing our study on the roadmap and immigration in the francophone minority communities.

This morning we are pleased to have with us three representatives of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: Stefanie Beck, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services; Jennifer Irish, Corporate Secretary; and Jean Viel, Director, Official Languages Secretariat. Welcome.

We will sit until 9:45, when Ms. Beck has to leave us, after which we will take a five-minute break and then continue the meeting.

Ms. Beck, we are listening.

[Stefanie Beck, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you very much.

We are very pleased to be appearing before you. This is not the first time for some of us, and that is very good.

If I understand correctly, this meeting is the last time you will be discussing francophone immigration.

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

We have talked about it often.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You are constantly in our thoughts.

[Stefanie Beck]

We will try to answer all your questions.

We are pleased to be appearing today before the committee in connection with your study on the roadmap and immigration in the francophone minority communities.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Stefanie Beck, Assistant Deputy Minister, Corporate Services and Official Languages Champion at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. I am accompanied today by Jennifer Irish, Corporate Secretary, and Jean Viel, Director of IRCC's Official Languages Secretariat.

The committee has questions on the secretariat's role and mandate within our department, and on how its activities fit in with our obligations and priorities regarding immigration in francophone minority communities, or FMCs, and support for their development and vitality.

First of all, I would point out that, in cooperation with other federal departments, the provinces, the territories, and community stakeholders, IRCC seeks to foster a migration of permanent and temporary residents that strengthens Canada's economy, ensure newcomers' successful integration, and facilitate their participation, along with that of citizens, in fostering an integrated society.

Thus, one of IRCC's core principles is to ensure that Canada's regions, including official language minority communities, reap the economic and social benefits of immigration, including francophone immigration.

Since 2002 this commitment has been entrenched in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which stipulates that IRCC must support and assist the development of official language minority communities in Canada and support the commitment of the Government of Canada to enhance the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities. As you know, this is in part VII of the OLA.

IRCC is determined to maintain and strengthen the vitality of francophone minority communities, or FMCs, through immigration. Since 2003 our department has undertaken initiatives to promote immigration to FMCs, and worked to position immigration strategically in the various multi-year official languages plans of the Government of Canada.

Using the funding earmarked for IRCC in the road map, the department created an official languages secretariat in 2014 with a view to helping build internal coordination and awareness of the department's official language obligations and activities, in connection with part VII of the act.

To ensure horizontal coordination of quality and strategic positioning within the department's governance structure, the official languages secretariat is located within IRCC's corporate secretariat, which reports directly to our deputy minister.

The Official Languages Secretariat has a three-pronged mandate.

First, the secretariat must ensure a strategic approach and a centralized coordination of IRCC's efforts in relation to Part VII of the Official Languages Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. It is the Human Resources Branch, however, that is charged with coordination of IRCC's activities and obligations under Parts IV, V and VI of the Official Languages Act.

Second, the secretariat supports me in my role as official languages champion as well as the department's other senior officials during awareness activities.

The secretariat's third and final key role is to manage the governance structure between IRCC and the francophone minority communities as well as that of the department's steering committee on official languages.

The secretariat also coordinates certain activities within the department, including celebrations involving the official languages. Examples include Linguistic Duality Day, National Francophone Immigration Week, and Journée de reflexion en immigration francophone [day of reflection on francophone immigration].

I would point out, however, that the secretariat is not the only entity responsible for implementing the Official Languages Act within IRCC. Just as with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, all sectors of the department have responsibility for applying the various parts of this act when developing their activities or policies. This is a shared responsibility. Obviously, we can also count on our legal services team to help us interpret these statutes.

Lastly, at the interdepartmental level, the Official Languages Secretariat is called upon to contribute according to the needs identified in the context of the interdepartmental coordination led by Canadian Heritage, and in particular by its coordinators network, when it comes to implementing Part VII.

If you will allow me, at this time I would like to delve into a little more detail on the role and mandate of the IRCC-FMC committee. The primary mission of the committee is to facilitate coordination amongst these essential elements: IRCC's initiatives, including the immigration pillar components of the road map for official languages; the communities' initiatives themselves; and the efforts of the other federal, provincial, territorial, and local stakeholders aimed at fostering the development of FMCs and targeting economic immigration.

To that end, we have tasked ourselves with: determining the strategic policies shared between IRCC and the communities to promote francophone immigration within the FMCs; fostering interdepartmental and intergovernmental coordination in the area of francophone immigration; mobilizing key players to improve the FMCs' reception, or welcoming capacity, and to strengthen the reception and settlement structures for French-speaking newcomers; and ensuring the social and cultural integration of French-speaking immigrants into Canadian and FMC societies.

The committee meets twice a year, and in my capacity as official languages champion I co-chair the meetings along with the chair of the National Community Table on Francophone Immigration, whom I think you have met at this meeting. As I mentioned earlier, the secretariat also maintains a dialogue with the Quebec Community Groups Network.

As you are aware, Mr. Chairman, under the Canada-Quebec agreement of 1991, the Government of Quebec has control over immigration selection and is responsible for providing settlement and integration services to all permanent residents destined for Quebec. However, this does not prevent us from maintaining a dialogue on how to coordinate our efforts in order to better ensure the development of Quebec's English-speaking communities.

In addition to research activities on Quebec's English-speaking activities carried out in recent years by the department, the secretariat recently organized a meeting with the leaders of the QCGN in Montreal. This very positive meeting enabled us to forge closer ties with this organization, and laid the groundwork for increased co-operation, especially in the area of community engagement practices.

In closing, since its founding, the Official Languages Secretariat has helped strengthen relations with the department's various branches involved in the francophone immigration continuum in the FMCs, paving the way for ongoing dialogue and a proactive approach to implementing the Official Languages Act and the objectives of Part VII of this act.

This is notably reflected in the establishment of IRCC's priorities in connection with the Government of Canada's upcoming multi-year official languages plan.

And on that note, Mr. Chairman, we would be pleased to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Ms. Beck.

We will immediately begin the round of questions.

I will start by turning the floor over to Mr. Généreux.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to the witnesses. I hope you are doing well.

Ms. Beck, after listening to what you just said, I think I will never in my life be a public servant. It is really complicated. It is not something simple.

[Stefanie Beck]

No, not at all. That is what you saw in the last meetings as well. The continuum, from start to finish, not only across the country, but throughout the immigration system, is complicated. Since it includes integration in Canada, it concerns several departments, all levels of government, and the Canadian population that is already here.

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

Yes.

Personally, I am in business. If I met with the officers of the various companies I own here and there only twice every 12 months, I am not sure I would get much done in a year.

[Stefanie Beck]

The meeting that is held twice a year involves everyone. Otherwise, we see them and talk to them every day.

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

I see.

[Stefanie Beck]

That is the difference between a bilateral and a multilateral meeting.

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

Indeed.

We asked the analysts to develop questions because we wanted to be quite direct. As some analysts have been here for many years, they have seen the various roadmaps. We wanted to be sure we had questions that were as precise as possible for the various witnesses who came to speak during the proceedings we have held in recent months.

In its last appearance, on October 18, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada had this to say:

We also realize that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's programs and methods are in a way being fragmented. The department must find a way to determine how it can concentrate its services and develop tools that produce real results.

I do not know whether you have read the reports that have been prepared in the course of the committee's proceedings. When an organization such as the FCFA says something like that, when every day it verifies what is being done and coordinates many activities and all kinds of things with the organizations it represents, that is an observation I would find hard to accept if I were in your position. I do not know how you take it.

What do you think of that statement?

[Stefanie Beck]

I think that, given the way its representatives address the question, they are seeing only certain parts of the department at the same time. What they need in fact is a vision of everything the department does, not only in Ottawa, but across the country and around the world. For example, we have people who are posted to foreign missions and in the various regions of Canada. That is part of the whole continuum. That in fact is what I would like to talk about.

I am going to turn the floor over to Mr. Viel so he can explain the situation to you. We see everything; in fact, the purpose or role of the Official Languages Secretariat is to coordinate it all.

I turn the floor over you, Mr. Viel.

[Jean Viel, Director, Official Languages Secretariat, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you.

We are essentially offering an overview of our francophone immigration activities, in addition to the description of the mandate that was included in the assistant deputy minister's speech.

We would like to take this opportunity to give you a summary of what is happening in francophone immigration from our perspective, what we are working on, and specifically what our departmental policies and programs colleagues are working on.

I think it is important to tell you from the outset that we are seeing progress. Even though the target is for 2018, we are already seeing progress. Our recent data show a promising trend in that direction. Without a doubt, we are still on track to meet that target in 2018.

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

Pardon me, Mr. Viel.

Are you talking about the 4% or 4.5% target?

[Jean Viel]

Yes. That is a very good question. Let me take this opportunity to clarify this right off the bat.

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

I do not remember the exact figure.

As soon as you get to 1.5% or 2%, you are halfway to meeting the target.

[Jean Viel]

We essentially have two targets. We have one target associated with the roadmap. It is 4% of economic immigration. That is the less important component.

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

I see.

[Jean Viel]

We are aiming for 4% of francophone economic immigration exclusively outside Quebec.

The other target, which was set long ago, is 4.4% of total immigration, that is to say of all francophone immigration classes. Note, however, that we are still talking about francophone immigration in this case.

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

Yes. Absolutely.

[Jean Viel]

As we are often asked, why 4% and 4.4%? Before the 4.4% target was set, a study was conducted together with the community to determine how the relative weight of the francophone minority community, which was around 4.4% at the time, could be preserved.

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

Was the 4.4% figure also related to the economic aspect at the time? There is a difference between 4.4% and 4%.

[Jean Viel]

The 4.4% figure included, and still includes, the "economic immigration" class.

As for the 4% target, the government's decision at the time was to emphasize economic immigration by relying on the role of employers and on economic development potential. Its purpose was to focus on economic immigration in the context of the current roadmap.