Official Languages Committee on March 30th, 2022

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

On Monday, the IRCC Minister appeared before the committee and told us that Canada was about to reach the 3% target set for francophone immigration in 2022, out of the 4.4% overall target that the country has been attempting to achieve for almost 30 years. According to him, the 4.4% target would likely be reached in 2023.

Do you think that what he said is realistic?

[Raymond Théberge]

It's a difficult target to meet, and even if we managed to do it once in 20 years, I wouldn't think that we could say we had truly achieved it. There's ambiguity with respect to the target in the sense that it's not clear whether it's an annual target or a target to be reached over a 20-year period?

I see it more as an annual target, and even if we are successful, one way or another, in reaching the 4.4% target, I don't think we can truly say that we have met the target that was set in 2001.

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

I'm pleased to hear you say that, because it's increasingly a matter of raising the target, because Canada wants to welcome many more immigrants than it ever has.

What to you think about increasing the target to 8% or 10%, in the hope of reaching 5%, given that we've never managed more than 2% for francophone immigration?

If we set a target of 10% rather than 4.4%, perhaps that would provide us with the resources needed to get there, as you mentioned earlier.

[Raymond Théberge]

By welcoming more immigrants overall, it becomes more difficult to achieve any target, whether it's 4%, 5%, 6%, 7%, or 8%, and even more resources would be required.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Commissioner and Mr. Généreux.

Mr. Iacono, you have the floor for three and a half minutes.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Welcome, Commissioner.

To reach the 4.4% target, Canada would have had to admit over 75,000 more French-speaking permanent residents to regions outside Quebec between 2008 and 2020.

What do you think the percentage should be as of 2024 and beyond, and how many French-speaking permanent residents would have to be admitted to achieve it?

[Raymond Théberge]

The number would depend on the federal objective, which is to say…

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Commissioner, based on your own experience and what you may have heard about this matter, what would you suggest?

[Raymond Théberge]

I don't have figures for you right now. What I'm aiming at is a percentage that is higher than 4.4%. We need a much more ambitious target than the one we have now. The absolute number will increase in accordance with the overall target set by the federal government.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Very good.

Earlier, you said that we should do certain things differently. I appreciated the way you expressed it.

Given the decline in French, what should the government do to maintain the long-term settlement of new French-speaking permanent residents who choose to settle in an official language minority community?

[Raymond Théberge]

Integration and settlement programs have been established, and I think they need to be enhanced. We need to establish links between the community and newcomers, or they will go to other communities. It's therefore important to integrate them into their community. It's true that we need workers, but it mustn't be forgotten that newcomers need to be properly integrated into our communities.

If we provide the means and programs needed to do that, we'll be able to increase the retention rate. That's important because we are investing a lot on attracting immigrants to our communities. Once again, I repeat that we need retention programs for them. The organizations are in place, but are they properly equipped to do their work? That's another question we have to ask ourselves.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Would you agree that this requires close collaboration between the provincial governments and the Canadian government?

[Raymond Théberge]

The federal government, the provinces and the communities need to work together. This kind of partnership has to work from the bottom up so that we can eventually adopt a holistic approach. That would promote retention and the best possible integration of immigrants into our communities.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you, Commissioner.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Iacono.

I'd like to thank you, Commissioner, Mr. Leduc and Ms. Gervais, for being with us today. Before leaving the meeting, I would ask you to please send all of the information we requested in writing to the clerk. If you think there are other documents that we might find useful, please don't hesitate to send them along.

Having said that, we are now going to have to suspend the meeting so that the committee members can go and vote.

We will have to return after the vote, dear colleagues, to discuss the committee's work. Please use the second zoom link that the clerk sent to you today.

The meeting is suspended.

[Proceedings continue in camera.]