Official Languages Committee on March 28th, 2022

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

My question will be for Ms. Prince.

When you were here before us the last time, I understood from you that there was a good and close rapport and relationship with the Province of Quebec in order to ensure the entrance of francophone newcomers in the province.

Subsequent to your testimony, we had before us Karl Blackburn, the president and chief executive officer of Quebec Employers Council, who had a different take.

I'm going to cite him and give you an opportunity to clarify this so that we can all have a better picture of what the relationship really is. He said:

This dual administration creates political friction. Departments are passing the buck in terms of who is responsible for the lengthy processing times. The finger is regularly pointed at Quebec, which is responsible for determining the number of permanent immigrants entering its territory, as the cause of the backlog of files on the desks of federal public servants. At the same time, the federal government recently admitted to voluntarily slowing down the processing of Quebec skilled worker applications, citing a large inventory of applications, while Quebec had also reduced its admission targets.

Go ahead, Ms. Prince.

[Corinne Prince]

Mr. Chair, the last time I appeared before this committee I indicated that the relationship between the Quebec ministry of immigration and our federal ministry of immigration was a very positive one. We do include Quebec in our meetings with the provinces and territories at all levels, from the minister to the deputy minister to the assistant deputy minister, and at my level, the DG level. Quebec, as the minister indicated, has a special relationship with Canada in the sense of the Canada-Quebec Accord.

In terms of the applications to Quebec that are processed by IRCC, I would like to pass the specifics of that answer to my colleague Ms. Hiles. She is from our operations sector.

[Alexandra Hiles, Director General, Domestic Network, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

To build on my colleague Corinne's answer, during the past year, and especially during the height of the pandemic, we worked closely with the Government of Quebec to focus on finalizing applications from persons residing in Canada. That did result in longer processing times, and we are aware of that for certain categories, for persons who are residing outside Canada.

Our focus for this year is really on working through those older cases, which will mean that you will see an increase in processing times, and we are working towards returning to the stated processing time, for example, for Quebec skilled workers of 11 months, as we work through applications that have been pending during border closures.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

When you say that you will be diminishing or reducing the time delays, what delays are we talking about? What time period can we hopefully expect?

[Alexandra Hiles]

Current processing times for skilled workers in Quebec, for example, are roughly 28 months, and we are aiming for an eventual 11-month processing time.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Would this be part of your 2023 target ?

[Alexandra Hiles]

The overall francophone admissions, yes, would be part of 2023 targets, although the 4.4% and the processing times are not directly linked, but we are working to return to the processing standard for Quebec skilled worker cases.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Okay.

I don't know whom to address this question to, so maybe I can continue with you. With regard to your program of entrée express, the minister said quite clearly that it seems to be on the right path but needs additional tools.

What would those additional tools be in order to make sure that the entrée express program becomes express?

[Caroline Xavier]

As the minister shared, or perhaps you're aware, the government has given us an additional $85 million to address the backlog of which Ms. Hiles was speaking a few minutes ago, in particular related to the Quebec backlog processing question.

Having said that, the intent is to be able to make some actual changes to the express entry program, and some of this funding will be used for that, where right now the amendments required are not yet done.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Ms. Xavier.

I'm now giving the floor to Mr. Bernard Généreux for five minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Prince, I believe I heard you say earlier that you had abandoned the bill. I'm guessing that you wanted to say that you had repealed the bill.

[Corinne Prince]

Thank you for asking that question.

I'm sorry if I expressed myself incorrectly. In fact, what we did was enhance the bill.

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

Okay. I wasn't sure.

In that case, you were talking about Bill C‑13, right?

[Corinne Prince]

Here is what I wanted to say. The same bill, Bill C‑32, was tabled in the House of Commons in June 2021. From that time on, we at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada worked with our Canadian Heritage colleagues and people in the francophone community to enhance Bill C‑13, which was tabled in the House of Commons in February. We added a number of items to the provision on the francophone immigration policy. Specifically we added information about objectives, targets and indicators.

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

So you're saying that you worked with people at Canadian Heritage. But in fact you had worked with them in previous years.

What's different compared to what was done before? What measures did you improve, apart from the objectives, targets and indicators?

[Corinne Prince]

Thank you very much for the question.

As the minister mentioned in his presentation, in 2019, our department drafted the Francophone Immigration strategy, which had several objectives. The Francophone Immigration strategy is a policy, and is not part of a bill, meaning that it is neither legislative nor regulatory. It's an administrative policy which has already led to promising results.

The strategy begins with targeted promotional activities abroad, in countries where French is spoken. That includes selection, in all the programs we mentioned, now and in the past.

The strategy also includes partnerships with the provinces, territories and stakeholders to ensure that our work is consistent with what's happening in the communities and that the initiatives meet community goals and needs.

The strategy also includes a francophone immigration settlement pathway. Over the past few years, we have increased the number of francophone service providers from 50 to more than 80, to improve the services being provided by and for francophones. I always add the word “with” to the list in speaking about services available by, for and with francophones, because I believe…

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

Ms. Prince, before I run out of time, I'd like to know whether it would be possible to obtain the working document you developed to improve results, unless it's confidential.

[Corinne Prince]

We would be more than happy to provide the committee with the Francophone Immigration strategy.

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

I would imagine that you believe this strategy is achieving better results. At least the minister seems to believe it.

I have another question for you.

At the moment, is the first-come first-served principle still being applied, particularly for francophone students who apply, through the various programs available, to come to Canada?

[Corinne Prince]

Thank you very much for the question.

Students who arrive in Canada on a temporary visa are not currently eligible for settlement services.

However, if what you're talking about is application processing, I'll ask Ms. Hiles to answer you.

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

Unfortunately, my speaking time is up. It would be interesting to know why they are not eligible, and so we would be very grateful to you if you could possibly send us a response in writing.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you very much, Mr. Généreux.

Ms. Arielle Kayabaga now has the floor for five minutes.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to begin by thanking the witnesses who are with us today.

I'm going to ask the same questions I asked the minister earlier. Some witnesses have already told our committee that there are certain barriers, such as a French exam that is overly difficult. In fact, even some francophones, by which I mean people who have attended French schools, always worked in French and speak French at home, fail the exam.

Can you tell us why this barrier exists?

How difficult is this French exam? What changes could be made to have the level of difficulty correspond to a level that would normally allow francophones to pass it?

[Caroline Xavier]

Thanks for the question.

Depending on the program under which people submit an application, there are certain requirements to be met. These requirements apply to more than just one country. I want to make sure you clearly understand that the requirement to pass the exam is applicable to everyone who applies, and not just to those from francophone countries, for instance.

I understand that this might be perceived as a barrier. Nevertheless, the exam currently being used is considered the standard examination that must be passed by people who want to apply for permanent residency.

As the minister said, however, if you are getting that kind of feedback and the exam continues to be an issue, it could be reviewed. We know that many people are passing the exam, but according to what you are telling us, there are certain problems with it. We therefore need to look more closely at the situation to see if the exam is indeed a barrier to people who already speak French.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I'm going to reiterate my question on the same subject.

I did not understand what level of difficulty was set for this exam. As I was saying earlier, francophones have come to the committee and talked about what they experienced. I'm talking here of people who studied in French, in Canada and elsewhere, people whose mother tongue is French. These people wrote the exam and found the level of difficulty too high for them, on the one hand, but they also felt that it would be equally difficult for Canadian francophones in general to pass it.

Can you tell us what level of difficulty this exam has been set at? On what did you base your decision for the desired level of French?