Evidence of meeting #68 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 immigration.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

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

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Just now that he's—

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Let me finish my answer, please.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

I have 15 seconds left, so I'd like to ask, what percentage of that $76 million—

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Mr. Chair, I would like to finish my answer, please.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Ms. Rempel, please.

Mr. Minister, go ahead. Conclude rapidly, please.

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Thank you very much.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

Mr. Chair, on a point of order, my question has not been answered. I specifically would like to know—

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

I would like to finish my answer, please, Mr. Chair.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

I have the floor.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

It's a matter of debate.

I will ask the minister to please finish his answer.

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

I would like to finish my answer, please.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

I would like to know what percentage of the $76 million has been dedicated to francophone training services specifically—

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Mr. Chair, I know what the question was. I'd like to finish my answer, please.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

—not the overall number.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Ms. Rempel, we'll hear the minister conclude on this point.

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

We spent $76 million more on settlement services for refugees and all newcomers. I think that record speaks for itself. The record left to us by the previous government was abysmal on the part of settlement and integration.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

On a point of order, Mr. Chair—

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

The lion's share of that money went to language training. We dealt very quickly with some of the shortages in language training spots. We had extra money for the Syrian cohort.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

1 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

We are absolutely proud of our record of settlement funding. This year we are putting $700 million, which is another increase, into settlement and integration of refugees. I will thus not accept that premise, Ms. Rempel.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

Thank you, Mr. Minister.

Madame Rempel.

1 p.m.

Conservative

Michelle Rempel Conservative Calgary Nose Hill, AB

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I would like to note, especially in light of the fact that I believe the government would like to change the Standing Orders so that ministers don't have as much of a role on committee, that the question I specifically asked was what percentage of funding was directed towards francophone language training in communities outside of Quebec.

For the record, as much as the minister was making an assertion that he answered that question, he did not. I point out, in terms of relevancy for this report, that the answer was not given. Thank you.

1 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis

The minister did answer some questions. We're running out of time, so we'll continue with Mr. Vandal.

You have four minutes.

June 14th, 2017 / 1 p.m.

Liberal

Dan Vandal Liberal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB

Thank you for being here, Minister Hussen and Minister Joly.

In March 2016, in Saint Boniface, John McCallum, the former Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced the reinstatement of the Mobilité francophone program. The Harper government had cancelled the program. The announcement was very well received by the province's Franco-Manitoban community and across the country.

In Manitoba, immigration has three components. These components are recruitment, intake and integration. We do excellent work on intake and integration. However, we need help with recruitment. I believe this is also one of the recommendations in our report to the government.

Here's my question. Are discussions in progress with stakeholders in Manitoba to promote the recruitment of francophone immigrants, in order to increase the immigration percentage and bring it closer to the target of 4.4%?

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

Ahmed Hussen Liberal York South—Weston, ON

Thank you for the question, honourable member.

The meeting that we had in Moncton in late March was pivotal, because we all agreed, provincially and federally, that we should cooperate and collaborate with respect not just to the integration of settlement services but also the promotion work so that we can attract more francophone immigrants into Canada. One way we want to speed up that work is that, instead of having those meetings every two years, we agreed to meet once a year so that we can coordinate more.

We have been working with the groups that are engaged in the attraction, and we commit to making sure we work with them on promotion. As I said, in terms of our skilled immigrant stream, the economic immigrant side, as a department we want to make sure that all promotional efforts include and expand the opportunities to market to francophone immigrants and attract them to Canada. Our pilots are also helping in that regard—for example the Atlantic immigration pilot program—and I've spoken about the other changes.

Broadly speaking, even for the attraction of international students, when I travel outside of Canada I try to sell Canada as a great destination for international students because of our world-class universities and colleges, but also our research hubs. I make sure that I also emphasize the fact that we have vibrant francophone institutions that support French-speaking international students. The response, I'm hoping, will be much higher than in the past.