Official Languages Committee on March 28th, 2022

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Ms. Xavier, The minister told us earlier that to reach the francophone immigration objectives, he had changed the point system and that there were more points for a knowledge of French.

Can you give us any details about that?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, one of the measures we took to increase the number of francophones immigrating to Canada was to assign applicants additional points directly in our Express Entry system. This allows us to acknowledge the fact that they speak French. It gives applicants additional points, and facilitates the processing of their application.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

For these same foreign students from African countries, the rejection rate is higher for Quebec than Ontario. Furthermore, the rejection rate is lower for Quebec's anglophone universities than it is for Quebec's francophone universities, particularly in the regions.

Can you tell us more about that?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for asking.

According to our statistics, the difference you mentioned is insignificant.

I'll check with my colleague Ms. Hiles to see if she has something to add.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

And yet the statistics come from your department. They report that in 2020, 92% of applicants were accepted at McGill University, compared to 12% at the University of Quebec, Trois-Rivières. How can we...

[Caroline Xavier]

Yes, but that doesn't mean the rejection was based on language. It's true that the university to which people submit an application may be francophone or anglophone, but each application is studied individually. The application is evaluated on the basis of the information supplied, and the information has to be complete. It doesn't mean that applications are rejected because they were applying to a francophone university.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Xavier.

Ms. Ashton, please go ahead for two and a half minutes.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have to say that I agree with my colleague Mr. Beaulieu. I too had the impression that there were two distinct groups of witnesses, because the minister didn't stay with us for the whole meeting. I'd like to thank my colleague for raising that issue.

I had asked the minister a question earlier, but there wasn't enough time for a reply.

The quality of services in French available from your department is not up to the mark. Over the past few weeks, several witnesses told us that your department was not doing enough to protect the rights of francophones.

When will your department be able to offer services in French to everyone who needs them, without causing any additional delays?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for the question.

Our obligation is to ensure that all our services are available in both of Canada's official languages. We are not deliberately providing inferior services to francophones, and that's not our intent. We have acknowledged some mistakes in certain areas. For example, some content on our website unfortunately had to be corrected and translated to a higher standard. We are making the required effort to ensure that situations like this do not crop up again.

At our call centres, 90% of officer positions are designated bilingual, because we want to make sure that we can provide our services in both official languages. We also hire bilingual people to ensure that the services are offered in both official languages.

We are not deliberately providing inferior services to francophones. We are truly apologetic about the situation. You are absolutely right to say that it's very important for us to provide services in both official languages. Our goal is to do just that and provide high quality services in both languages.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

In concluding, I'd like to use my speaking time to introduce a notice of motion:

That the committee invite the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion for a two-hour meeting to explain to this committee the motives behind the government’s appeal of the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision to defend the rights of francophones in British-Columbia to receive some services in French.

I hope that we can debate the motion and that it will receive the committee's support at future meetings.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton. So you are simply filing the notice of motion, but are not asking the committee to comment on it.

The speaking order for members of the official opposition has changed a lot, but I believe that Mr. Généreux is the next to speak.

Mr. Généreux, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, I think that it's my turn to speak, followed by Mr. Généreux.

Is that right, Madam Clerk?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay.

You have the floor, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm going to ask several questions in a row to the representatives of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.

How many employees work at your department?

[Caroline Xavier]

I don't know the exact total number, but I do know that the department has over 10,000 employees. That number includes our…

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I'm going to interrupt right there, Ms. Xavier. If you could, please tell the committee the number of employees, the number of francophone employees, the number of bilingual employees, and the number of anglophone employees. I'd like you to give us an overview of the situation. I'd also appreciate it if you could give us information about employee stability, by which I mean how long they stay at the Department of Citizenship and Immigration. According to certain sources of information, there appears to be a high rate of staff turnover. Your department would appear to be a point of entry into the federal public service, but people don't stay. Is that perhaps why the department's operations have been unstable?

Earlier, the minister mentioned that immigrants, whether francophone or anglophone, were often rejected for reasons related to financial resources. Can you tell me what the minister meant by that?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for asking.

As the minister said, a rejection can come about for many different reasons, including inadequate funds. We want to make sure that everyone who comes to Canada, whether temporarily or permanently, will be successful once they are here.

Students, since that's what your question is about, may have their application rejected because they are unable to demonstrate that they will be able to continue to pay for their education while living on their own once in Canada.

We want to make sure that they are really coming here to study and that they will be able to graduate without requiring social assistance from Canada, or from other sources that could make them vulnerable once they are here. So it's only natural for them to have to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to pay their bills and live on their own.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Xavier. You've answered my question.

Now, is it true that in Canada no special effort is made to encourage immigrant students to remain in Canada, contrary to Quebec, which would like francophone students who come to Quebec to remain?

I'd like it if you could confirm that.

[Caroline Xavier]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair, I missed part of that question because of a connection problem.

Could you repeat the question?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Yes, I'll repeat it. I would ask the chair not to deduct that from my speaking time. Thank you very much.

I'd like to check some information with you, Ms. Xavier. It's about foreign students, whether francophone or anglophone, although more specifically about francophones in this instance. It's been said that Canada doesn't necessarily want foreign students who come here to remain in Canada afterwards, unlike Quebec, where the opposite is the case.

Is that true, Ms. Xavier?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thanks for the question.

Of course, when someone applies for temporary residency, we want to make sure that they are in fact coming to Canada for the reasons stated at the outset. Nevertheless, we are very receptive to foreign students remaining in Canada on a permanent basis.

Having said that, I will now call upon Ms. Prince, who can provide you with additional details.

[Corinne Prince]

I could add a few facts to what Ms. Xavier said.

It was specifically for that reason that the department and the minister last year added other ways of gaining access to permanent residency for francophone international students, with no limit on the number. We received over 4,700 applications under the pathway for French-speaking international graduates.

We want to keep international students in Canada to offset shortages in several sectors.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Ms. Prince.

I now have a brief question to ask you.

Why is a labour market impact assessment, an LMIA, always required in markets and geographical locations where the rate of unemployment is lowest, particularly in francophone communities?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thank you for your question.

That's part of…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Xavier. That's all the time we have for now.

Ms. Lattanzio, you have the floor for five minutes.