First, having immigration corridors to address shortages in specific fields is extremely important. The government is planning to create an immigration corridor to recruit francophone and French-language teachers. Health care and early childhood education are also areas in need of francophones. Provincial and territorial governments are on the hunt for bilingual workers. In light of all that, tying immigration to francophone labour needs is a win-win.
Something else I was pleased to see in the white paper was the government's commitment to establish a framework for the first-ever francophone immigration policy. It is essential that the policy be developed jointly with the communities, as co-creators. The policy should pave the way to doing things differently and implementing measures that are not necessarily applicable to anglophones. The government's approach has always been to establish an immigration program first and to add a francophone component afterwards. Going forward, it will be possible to give greater consideration to recruitment, promotion, international students and guidance to help temporary foreign workers become permanent residents.
This is an opportunity for a holistic approach to francophone immigration. The policy announcement and similar new tools make us very hopeful.