Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for inviting me.
I am Bernard Tremblay, president and chief executive officer of the Fédération des cégeps. I represent the 48 CEGEPs in Quebec, 43 of which are francophone institutions. The total number of CEGEP students is approximately 195,000. More than 7,000 international students are enrolled in CEGEPs, nearly 40% of whom come from France and 30% from francophone Africa. Admitting these francophone students helps offset the effects of demographic decline and maintain study programs that otherwise would have to be shut down for insufficient enrolment.
International students thus contribute to the richness of our social fabric. By their presence alone, they foster an open attitude toward the world, to other cultures and to a diverse range of realities for all the members of their new community. Those who remain in Quebec after completing their studies enter the labour market and form a new cohort that helps offset the glaring labour shortage in Quebec and elsewhere.
By enabling these francophone students to carve out a place in Quebec, we promote a healthy pattern of French-language settlement in our province. It is therefore understandable why the CEGEPs, which have always been significant drivers of social and economic progress, have made international recruitment a priority. However, immigration procedures have become a major obstacle to attracting and retaining those who choose to study at our institutions.
I would remind you that, last February, the Fédération des cégeps informed the members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration of the existing barriers to recruiting foreign francophone students in our network. The data that we shared at that time are appended to my written submission.
More specifically, the CEGEPs have observed that the situation of students from francophone Africa is particularly difficult. The study permit refusal rate for these applicants is very high and has been rising for several years. Between 2015 and 2020, refusal rates for the top 13 francophone African countries reached 80%. No other region in the world has comparable rates. They are so exceptional one can only conclude that applicants are being treated unfavourably based on their country of origin and the educational level to which they aspire. Refusal rates for those countries are distinctly higher when candidates are admitted to a CEGEP but decline for university graduate level studies.
The problem we are outlining for you today afflicts CEGEPs and the communities they serve. It is related to the federal government's jurisdiction over immigration and affects all francophone communities across Canada. Several questions arise. Is this situation the result of a systemic view of the immigration process involving francophone African countries or of ignorance of the francophone education system? Could it be the result of biased handling of study permits and operational issues in the immigration system? Whatever the case may be, this is a situation that cannot continue. As we have seen, it is having an impact on the regions and the programs of study offered at the CEGEPs and on the labour market, our social life, the vitality of French and especially the lives of the students admitted to our institutions. It also affects Canada's reputation as an educational destination and the entire Canadian francophone community.
The barriers to migration impede both the recruitment and retention of CEGEP graduates. Most graduates who wish to settle in Quebec apply to the Quebec experience program for workers and Quebec graduates, a program that is designed to retain skilled labour integrated in our society.
As soon as they are selected by Quebec, these graduates apply for permanent residence, but it takes more than two years for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, to process their applications. This is an incomprehensible situation, especially when you know that it takes only six months to process the applications of skilled workers selected by the federal government in provinces that have access to express entry. These long processing times for skilled workers from Quebec considerably undermine the integration and retention of these individuals and, once again, have a major impact on the reputations of Quebec and Canada.
Consequently, I have three demands for the committee.
First, I believe that study permit applications must be processed in a fair, just and transparent manner for all individuals, regardless of their country, language or the level of training they seek in coming to Canada.
Second, I believe the committee must ensure that IRCC's initiatives to promote francophone immigration do not encourage a spirit of competition among francophone communities in Quebec, Manitoba or the Atlantic provinces. It would be counterproductive to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Lastly, every program implemented to attract francophones to Canada must be administered fairly and in such a way as to increase the total number of francophones across the country.
Thank you.