Evidence of meeting #14 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was immigrants.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
Mr. Tremblay, what kind of effort are you making to connect with Africa?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fédération des cégeps
We have a lot of contacts with representatives of various countries. I could name you a dozen African countries where we organize missions. We take part in promotional fairs. We're obviously establishing ties with Canadian embassies in certain countries with delegations from Quebec.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
Thank you.
We recently heard from some African students who had filed complaints. The process is difficult in every way, whether it involves visa or college applications. Students have complained that colleges sometimes take their money and don't return it.
What do you think of the complaint we recently saw in the media?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fédération des cégeps
I find it somewhat surprising. At public colleges, which I represent, we care about reception, but also about support throughout the process. Once again, I think that following an educational path in Quebec, in a normally quite welcoming environment at our CEGEPs, is a key to success.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
If we had to increase the number of hours that international students are allowed to work, as you mentioned earlier, how many hours would you suggest?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fédération des cégeps
I would frankly find it hard to suggest a different number of hours at this point.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
Do you think that increasing the number of hours of work would help students who wish to study here and who can get here but who must be able to continue earning an income here in Canada?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fédération des cégeps
I would say once again that, in my view, that's not the main problem of our international students. I don't believe the problem lies in the number of hours worked. We would like them to focus on their studies. That gives them an opportunity to integrate socially and financially, but it doesn't seem to be the stumbling block at this stage.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
You nevertheless mentioned it. So I wanted to know who benefits from it. Is it the students or someone else?
4:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Fédération des cégeps
Ms. Meggs made us reflect on that situation. I think she's entirely right, but you have to bear in mind that tuition fees are nevertheless lower in the Quebec system, and there are scholarship programs, in many cases, that allow students to pay less than elsewhere in Canada. I'm not saying there aren't any financial problems, but I nevertheless think the main problem is access to and entering Quebec.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Arielle Kayabaga Liberal London West, ON
Ms. Meggs, last year, the Quebec government was reluctant to expand the regularization program for asylum claimants who were considered guardian angels during the pandemic.
Do you think that affects the rate of francophone immigration to Quebec?
4:25 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
That's hard to say; it depends. Many of the people in that group come from Haiti, but it's hard to say whether that'll make a big difference in the francophonie issue.
4:25 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
I'd say it's unfortunate.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
4:25 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
They're all francophones.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you. Pardon me for interrupting. I'm trying to do it as politely as possible, but I have to do my job.
The next questions will come from Mario Beaulieu, who has two and a half minutes.
The floor is yours, Mr. Beaulieu.
4:25 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
First of all, Ms. Meggs, you say that the Canadian government has introduced certain types of open work permits for employers outside Quebec who recruit francophones from abroad but that it deprives Quebec employers of the same privilege.
I've heard of many cases of that in my riding. Some immigrants told me that waiting periods would have been shorter if they had chosen to settle outside Quebec but that they absolutely wanted to settle in Quebec.
Do you know whether that's widespread? Can you tell us more about that phenomenon?
4:30 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
About the hiring of temporary foreign workers?
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Yes. For example, I'm talking about the fact that there are open work permits for employers elsewhere than in Quebec who recruit francophone foreign workers, but there are none in Quebec.
4:30 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
It surprised me when I discovered that there were ceilings, that this option was available to employers outside Quebec. Quebec employers complain a lot about delays in the temporary foreign worker program. Incidentally, those are closed permits. If they had the option of having open permits, if they were hiring francophones, I think they'd jump at the chance. That doesn't mean it'll be easy for them to find francophones, but I'm sure they would jump at the chance.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
You say that if the survival of French in Quebec isn't assured, the continued existence of French outside Quebec is an illusion.
Would you please tell us more about that?
4:30 p.m.
Former Director of Planning and Accountability, Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration, Gouvernement du Québec, As an Individual
It's already hard, and it will always be a challenge to sustain the French language in North America. However, having a critical mass of francophones in Quebec will nevertheless simultaneously help francophones outside Quebec. You can't imagine you can abandon French in Quebec and maintain francophone communities outside Quebec. I was previously the chief of staff of the Minister of Francophone Affairs of Ontario, and I…
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu, that's all the time you had.
The next speaker will be Niki Ashton.
Ms. Ashton, you have 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Niki Ashton NDP Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB
Thanks you very much.
Ms. Meggs, as you may know, the government set a target of admitting francophone immigrants representing 4.4% of total immigration between 2003 and 2023 to stabilize the demographic weight of francophones outside Quebec. As we know, the government has never met that target. The Commissioner of Official Languages suggests that the government establish a policy on francophone immigration to slow the decline and restore the demographic weight of those communities. What do you think that policy should look like?