Official Languages Committee on Nov. 24th, 2016

[Stefanie Beck]

That depends on the location of the airport. The corporation or community in the region handles that.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Are you saying there is a francophone immigrant host community in Toronto?

[Stefanie Beck]

We have 600 different contribution agreements across Canada to provide services to newcomers.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Who manages that?

[Stefanie Beck]

We manage it, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

You are providing us with new immigration facts, even though we have been talking about this for two months. This is the first time I have heard about this reception service.

[Stefanie Beck]

It is an integration service—

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

—that is offered when they arrive in the country, but not at the airport.

[Stefanie Beck]

Yes, it begins at the airport.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

According to a number of witnesses we have heard from, people arrive and do not even know this is available. They leave and live in English because, in many instances, the service has not been offered to them. There is no active offer in French upon their arrival. They think that everything takes place in English in Ontario, outside Quebec.

All that to say that we have a lot of work to do. Some immigrants I know have said it is not easy to arrive in Toronto.

You are telling us it is available, but I hear the contrary. We have to do a better job, together, so that the active offer of service to newcomers is an undeniable fact, not a random occurrence.

[Stefanie Beck]

An audit will have to be done, and, if this is not working properly, there will have to be a follow-up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Lefebvre.

Ms. Lapointe and Mr. Vandal will share the next time period.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning and welcome to the witnesses.

My riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles is situated north of Montreal and includes Deux-Montagnes, Saint-Eustache, Boisbriand, and Rosemère. My question concerns Quebec's anglophone community.

You mentioned the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord. So the work is being done jointly. What are the language-based immigration results? There are 40,000 to 50,000 immigrants in Quebec. The number constantly varies. What are the language figures? What action are you taking, and what efforts is the department making to address anglophone minority immigration? I want to know the figures and the efforts you are making.

[Stefanie Beck]

I do not think I have the figures to hand, but I can send them to you.

We met with representatives of the anglophone community, people from the Quebec Community Groups Network, two weeks ago, and they told us there were no immigration problems but rather an integration problem. How do people maintain their language once they have arrived in Quebec? People have to be able to live there and send their children to English-language schools. That is the main concern of Quebec's anglophone community.

This is in fact the contrary of the challenge we must meet in the rest of Canada, the fact that an inadequate number of francophone immigrants are arriving at Canada's door, whereas a sufficient number are arriving in Quebec.

There is another problem: there is no certainty they will stay there. This is a retention problem.

As you know, our hands are somewhat tied. We give Quebec money every year, but Quebec provides for the settlement and integration of those immigrants.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I understand, but you cannot provide retention figures and do not know the percentage of francophones. I am very concerned by what is being observed with regard to French outside Quebec and the targets that are not being met. In the long term, the number of francophones in the country as a whole must rise in proportion to the number of anglophones. Ultimately, the federal government provides money but does not demand results.

[Stefanie Beck]

An audit is done every year. Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, a bilateral Canada-Quebec review is conducted every year to determine whether the objectives of the accord have been met. I know this is being done and that we have a long and detailed list of what Quebec is doing with that funding.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I would appreciate your sending us those figures.

I am going to turn the floor over to my colleague Mr. Vandal.

Thank you very much.

[Stefanie Beck]

You also wanted information on retention, did you not?

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You can forward that information to the clerk.

Mr. Vandal, you have the floor.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Thank you very much.

I will ask my questions quickly as we have little time left.

I want to go back to Destination Canada.

[Stefanie Beck]

All right.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Does Destination Canada focus solely on francophone immigration and the official language minority communities?

[Stefanie Beck]

You can think of it as a big job fair. That's really what it is. It's a really big job fair that we have in Paris—

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

So it is intended for the francophone community.