Mr. Chair, I want to thank the members of the committee for inviting me to appear here today.
Before I begin, I want to mark the anniversary of the tragic incident that took place at the École polytechnique de Montréal. I want to tell everyone who is concerned about violence against women that we will not forget that incident, which unfortunately has now become part of Canada's history.
I would also like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
First, I would like to thank Minister Petitpas Taylor for introducing Bill C-13, the Commissioner of Official Languages, Raymond Théberge, and his team for their work regarding the vitality of francophone minority communities, and the member for Orleans, Marie-France Lalonde, who is my parliamentary secretary and an ardent advocate of our two official languages.
Although I'm not a francophone, as a proud Canadian, I believe in the importance of promoting French across Canada. I acknowledge the positive impact that the French language continues to have on our country.
Immigration is essential to all our communities. The growth of the labour force in recent years is almost entirely attributable to immigration. Furthermore, today's immigration will help us meet our demographic challenges.
This past August, Statistics Canada reported that the demographic weight of francophone minority communities was declining across the country, which explains why the immigration-related measures contained in Bill C-13 are so important.
Our present francophone immigration strategy was launched in 2019, and it's purpose is to support the vitality of francophone minority communities. To do that, we have set a target of 4.4% of francophone immigrant admissions outside Quebec by the end of next year. We have also adopted additional measures to support the integration and retention of francophone newcomers.
I'm delighted to announce that, from January 1 to August 31 of this year, Canada admitted more francophone newcomers outside Quebec than in any other year since we began compiling statistics. We have actually doubled the number of admissions since the same period last year.
The number of francophone immigrant admissions to Canada outside Quebec has just now exceeded 4%.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, has made significant investments in the francophone immigration strategy. To leverage those efforts, I expect to announce a new francophone immigrant admissions target, which will guide our efforts after 2023. I intend to set a new target of more than the current 4.4% in order to offset the demographic decline of francophone and Acadian communities. However, we need to adopt a long-term vision in order to have an impact. To that end, the adoption of a francophone immigration policy will ensure that the government is committed to future francophone immigration.
We have made changes to assist newcomers in adjusting to their new lives once they arrive in Canada. For example, we have implemented the francophone immigration pathway and launched the welcoming francophone communities initiative so that newcomers feel welcome and integrate into their communities.
To attract more francophone and bilingual newcomers to Canada, we are expanding and targeting our francophone immigration promotion activities. This past August, for example, we opened a new office in Yaounde, Cameroon, which will enable us to increase our promotional activities in western and central Africa.
Immigration will play an essential role in Canada's economic future. We have also understood the need to raise immigration thresholds in future and to increase assistance to support the vitality of francophone minority communities.
I am pleased to support the various recommendations that have been made to modernize the Official Languages Act, which will improve our immigration system and enable all our communities to enjoy the benefits of immigration.
In closing, I want to thank my colleagues from all parties for their support of my efforts to learn French, particularly Mr. Godin, whom I regularly see in the corridors of Parliament, as well as my Liberal colleagues. I am very happy to be learning a second language. When I began my political career, I was incapable of carrying on a conversation in French. However, I have made progress with the help of my colleagues, who have encouraged me. I still make a lot of mistakes, and I'm not perfectly bilingual, but I will have learned another language by the time I finish my political career. That's a real positive for me.
Thanks to all my colleagues.
