Official Languages Committee on April 4th, 2022

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

Thank you very much.

I believe that the worst thing that can happen in a francophone community is to lose a day care centre or not to have francophone child care services. Stories like these are heartbreaking, and I've heard a lot of them. A francophone day care centre just closed in Kingston because of a lack of human resources, not a shortage of clients.

I'd like to explain the following to the ladies and gentlemen around this table. I don't know if you realize just how disastrous it is when a francophone day care centre closes in a francophone community, or when a centre can't accept all the francophone children. Demographic growth inevitably plunges.

Ms. Ashton, you've just raised an extremely important point.

Our network will be organizing a forum in May to discuss the process of receiving and recruiting people from abroad so that they can be trained and then work in the early childhood field. We will be holding an international forum specifically on early childhood to show owners of day care centres, whether private or not, how to go about recruiting people internationally. We are working with the Canadian Embassy in Paris on this. It's an extremely important item on the network's agenda.

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

Thank you for this information and for having reported what happened in Kingston. That's really worrisome.

I hope that the forum will be open to francophone communities outside Ontario, because the situation has been going from bad to worse elsewhere, as well.

I also have a question for Ms. Djiemeni on the obstacles to overcome.

What kind of obstacles do immigrants, and particularly international students, encounter when they try to complete the immigration process and acquire permanent residency?

For example, the committee heard some disturbing stories about the services provided by IRCC, including the availability of services in French and the quality of the language exams. Can you give us your perspective on obstacles linked to the immigration system?

[Jacqueline Djiemeni]

Thank you for asking.

I would describe the obstacles that an immigrant might come up against as follows. I personally encountered problems related to speaking the language. Linguistic insecurity truly affects most newcomers in a country where everyone is speaking a language they do not know. It causes stress and they feel guilty for no reason.

With international students, things get more complex, because they have come here to study. That really slows them down because they need to learn the language that we speak first before they can begin their studies. That's one of the barriers they might encounter.

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

Thank you very much.

I think we have a few seconds left.

I see that there are 15 seconds left.

Do you have other recommendations on this score, Ms. Djiemeni?

[Jacqueline Djiemeni]

I think efforts are needed to counter linguistic insecurity. It's a point that really should be taken into consideration.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's a useful comment, Ms. Djiemeni.

Thank you very much.

We've completed the first round of questions for the second hour of the meeting.

We're now beginning the second round of questions and will begin with Mr. Jacques Gourde for five minutes.

Go ahead please.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

It's excruciating to see just how difficult it will be to meet the target set for us by the government.

First of all, it's very difficult for foreign francophone students to be admitted to a Canadian educational institution. They are refused because the French exam is very difficult. I believe that 80% to 85% of our senior public servants would not be able to pass this exam. It ought to be one of the criteria required for government senior officials in Canada. That might shake things up a bit.

It is also hard to believe that these same students have to prove that they will return to their country and are not planning to stay in Canada. But when they have spent three, five or 10 years of their life studying here, they acquire Canadian skills and it would be much easier for them to find work in Canada.

The highly skilled people who come to Canada should have their qualifications recognized. They often have to start from scratch and return to school. That's another negative aspect that keeps francophones in foreign countries away from Canada.

But beyond all that, if the government were to fully exercise its political will and if all the departments were to put their shoulder to the grindstone on behalf of francophone immigration, would our postsecondary educational institutions, our CEGEPs in Quebec and our universities from one end of Canada to the other, be able to accept 35,000 or 40,000 francophone students per year?

I'd like to hear your comments on that.

Mr. Chair, please allow the witnesses to finish.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

To whom are you speaking Mr. Gourde?

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

To the three witnesses. Ms. Duguay-Langlais could begin.

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

I'll defer to Dr. Miville, because I don't really have any data on the capacity of Canada's francophone and bilingual universities to receive francophone immigrants.

I don't really have anything to say on that.

[Dr. Serge Miville]

May I humbly suggest that in regions like northern Ontario, the hosting capacity is nevertheless much larger than the number of people they are attracting. It's not really a question of capacity here, but rather of promoting the options we would be able to offer in northern Ontario, and not just in northern Ontario. I think it's everywhere in the Canadian francophonie, even in Quebec regions. We have communities that are able to integrate people and and ensure success, as well as to slow the rate of assimilation and even reverse it. We need to use our institutions for leverage.

In my speech, I described these institutions as existential questions. They will integrate on the basis of the French fact. That's their particular capacity, and uniqueness, and the side of things that ensures that the various pathways are successful in integrating the diversity and ensuring the community, economic and even demographic development of these regions. We have to work with these institutions, whether schools or the postsecondary sector, because they are the fundamental institutions, together with the family, that can build capacity in these communities. I don't think we lack capacity. The very opposite is the case. Send the people our way, because we are ready to receive them.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

If there are no other comments, I have a brief question.

Students and others who decide to come to francophone Canada do not necessarily come from very rich countries, and the cost of living in Canada is very high. We talked earlier about the housing shortage, with accommodation costing from $1,000 to $1,500 or even $2,000 a month in some parts of Canada. Why would newcomers working at just above the minimum wage want to come to Canada?

[Dr. Serge Miville]

Excuse me, but I would say that having someone settle in Sudbury, Caraquet or Rouyn-Noranda is less expensive than in Toronto or Ottawa.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Dr. Miville.

Thank you, Mr. Gourde.

The next question will come from Mr. Iacono, who has five minutes.

Go ahead, Mr. Iacono.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to welcome the witnesses and thank them for having come to share their opinions with us today.

My first questions are for Ms. Duguay-Langlais.

Through funding under the IRCC's Settlement Program, what types of plans for the successful integration of francophone immigrants have been developed?

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

Generally speaking, all the settlement services for newcomers are funded by this program. The Francophone Immigration Support Network is funded by this program, as is the Welcoming Francophone Communities program, in collaboration with Canadian Heritage. There appears to be collaboration with the OLSPs, the Official Languages Support Programs. There are refugee reception programs like the Refugee Resettlement Program, which it also funds. There are certainly others as well. There are community connection programs, a lot of them, but they are all based on integration. It's important to understand that integration is covered reasonably well by some IRCC programs, but that the most important factor is retention. As for housing, work, the ability to work in the Canadian labour system, much remains to be done.

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

Thank you.

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

I'm not sure whether I've answered your question.

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

Yes, thank you.

So this program is very well structured.

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

The way I see it, the IRCC Settlement Program is indeed.

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

Okay. Your Francophone Immigration Support Network works in partnership with the Economic and Social Council of Ottawa-Carleton. Can you tell us more about the francophone meeting point program, called Point d'accueil francophone, and how it came about?

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

Of course.

Point d'accueil francophone Is a new program that was introduced here in Ottawa. It has been a referral hub since 2020.

It receives francophone immigrants and refers them to various services. It's a collaborative structure with 10 principal partners in Ottawa: school boards, economic groups, etc.

When we receive immigrants, we refer them to other services. It's rather interesting to see that this year, despite the pandemic and the reduced number of francophone newcomers in Ottawa, we were able to meet our targets. A lot of our work was done online. We do welcome them when they arrive, but virtually.

In any event, it's a great program that has become really popular.

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

Can you tell us which of the services available were most helpful to francophone newcomers in settling over the long term in the Ottawa region?

[Brigitte Duguay-Langlais]

The Economic and Social Council of Ottawa-Carleton, CESOC, provides settlement services.

All the services we offer are really part of a package, because we welcome them, and prepare a personal settlement and integration plan for them. We look at their training, their abilities, their experience and their skills.

We ask them what they might be able to do and what they need to move in. We do all the work of preparing the settlement process. There are also other organizations working in economic integration that help them find jobs, and work with employers willing to provide training, etc.

So there's a lot happening…

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

I have one last question, since there is a minute left.

We've discuss the positive aspects, but what are the problems encountered most often that jeopardize the successful settlement of francophone immigrants?