Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I am proposing this amendment because I believe Canada is a linguistically diverse country, and the fact that French and English are its official languages has huge appeal to newcomers, both francophones and anglophones, who have a lot to contribute to our communities and our economy. It is important that we protect the vitality of French in communities outside Quebec and that our government take steps to do so.
Francophones outside Quebec make up about 3.3% of Canada's population, according to the census data published by Statistics Canada on August 17. According to the data from 2016, francophones outside Quebec made up 3.6% of Canada's population. So there has been a drop of 0.3%, meaning that we have a lot of work to do to remedy this situation.
Our government continues to take the necessary measures to address this decline, in spite of the difficulties we continue to see. In particular, we are trying to move the bill forward in this committee. Our communities expect us to take all the necessary measures to address this decline, especially Franco-Ontarians, but equally all the other French-Canadians outside Quebec.
Recently, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced that we had reached our goal of 4.4% francophone immigration outside Quebec. That is good news, but we still have a lot of work to do to ensure the vitality of our francophone communities outside Quebec, including day care facilities, educational institutions and all other essential services that require the use of the official languages.
As you know, I am also a member of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. Recently, as part of a study we were conducting, we had the opportunity to speak with the leaders of various linguistic minority communities. I would like to mention something that the Haitian community leader said when we asked him about Haitian migration. The committee was interested to known why a significant number of Haitians come to Canada, even though the United States is closer. He said the main reason is that Canada gives them the opportunity to live in French, making it a prestigious country for communities that speak French.
Another person representing the Burundi community made the same point, saying that people from Burundi come to Canada rather than the United States because it gives them the opportunity to live in their first language, which is French.
That means that, if we continue to offer services to francophones in various parts of Canada, we will continue to see that growth.
The witnesses we heard also said that the newcomers from these countries include doctors, teachers and various people who now make a very positive contribution to our Canadian communities and to our economy.
Francophones outside Quebec make up 3.3% of the population, following a 0.3% decline. We have a lot of work to do to continue to help these communities grow. I am proposing this amendment today in order to increase francophone immigration.
During many studies of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, various witnesses have said that 60% of the world's francophones are in Africa. If we continue to create resources that help us attract those immigrants, we will be able to remedy the decline we have seen outside Quebec, especially in the Franco-Ontarian and Acadian communities.
I will stop there. Perhaps someone else would like to add something.