Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Good afternoon, everyone.

The clerk informs me that we have quorum. I therefore call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 60 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages.

I would like to inform the committee that all members and witnesses have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting. Ms. Ashton has completed her test. Today, we are beginning the study on increased francophone immigration to Canada, as per the motion adopted on Friday, April 21, 2023. To ensure that the meeting runs smoothly, I would like to give some instructions to the witnesses.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I have a question, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I don't know if it's a point of order.

Has it been 10 minutes already since we voted in the House?

Normally, according to the procedure, we have to wait 10 minutes for members to get to the room after a vote.

I don't know if I'm wrong.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I didn't keep track. That's a good point.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

The legislation requires it

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

The Standing Orders require it, yes.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I don't think it's been 10 minutes. We shouldn't start if we haven't given members at least 10 minutes to get here.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Honestly, I thought it had been 10 minutes.

The vote ended at 3:52 p.m. We'll wait a little bit. You have a good point, Ms. Kayabaga. I'm going to suspend the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I call the meeting back to order.

I was just telling you that, in order to make sure the meeting runs smoothly, I'd like to give some instructions to the witnesses and the members.

Before you speak, please wait for me to call on you. If you are participating by videoconference, click on the microphone icon to activate it. Please mute yourself when you aren't speaking. As for interpretation, for those participating in the meeting via Zoom, you have a choice at the bottom of your screen between floor, English and French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and choose the desired channel. I'd like to remind you that all comments from members and witnesses should be directed to the chair.

I'd like to welcome all the witnesses.

From the Department of Citizenship and Immigration, we have Alain Desruisseaux and Olivier Jacques. Mr. Jacques is joining us by videoconference from Paris—lucky him—close to the Seine, while we're in Ottawa.

From the Department of Canadian Heritage, we have Ms. Boyer and Ms. Boily.

Mr. Jacques, I believe that this is your first time appearing before the Standing Committee on Official Languages.

Is that possible?

[Olivier Jacques, Area Director, Latin America, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

That's right. This is the first time.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Welcome.

Representatives from each department will have five minutes to present their opening remarks. We'll start with the Department of Citizenship and Immigration.

I'm also told that there will be another vote in the House during today's meeting. Does the committee agree that even though the bells are ringing, we should continue until two minutes before the vote?

There being no objection, we have unanimous consent.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, we're starting a study that is very important, and people from the departments have come to testify, but we know very well that we're going to be interrupted again, and we'll lose 30 minutes.

In that context, is it possible to schedule another time slot? We'll do the work as planned with these people today, but I'm sure their expertise is relevant enough to have them come back and give us more information.

Would the committee agree to an extra hour or hour and a half so that we can do our work properly?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Drouin, you have the floor.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I think Mr. Godin missed Ms. Boyer and her team so much that he wants to see them again for four more meetings.

I understand why he's proposing this. I agree, as long as it's for one hour, because I want to respect the schedule of Ms. Boyer and the officials who have been with us for several weeks.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We can schedule an extra hour next Friday. I think there's unanimous consent.

Ms. Ashton, you have the floor.

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

I was going to suggest that as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We'll let the clerk handle that. It'll be at least an hour, because we're going to lose more or less an hour today.

Mr. Desruisseaux, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Alain Desruisseaux, Director General, Francophone Immigration Policy and Official Languages Division, Department of Citizenship and Immigration]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, members of the committee.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging that I join today's meeting from the traditional unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.

Immigration plays a key role in supporting Canada's immediate economic needs, reversing our longer-term downward demographic trends, sustaining our official languages, and continuing to support humanitarian needs as part of the global community.

In 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC, announced a comprehensive francophone immigration strategy that aimed to reach a 4.4% target of French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec by the end of 2023. The strategy also supports the successful integration and retention of French-speaking newcomers and strengthens the capacity of francophone minority communities.

As you are surely aware, we reached the 4.4% target of French-speaking immigrants admitted to Canada outside Quebec before the end of 2022, a year earlier than the target date, and we are committed to at least meeting this target again this year, if we cannot exceed it.

In 2022, Canada welcomed over 16,300 French-speaking newcomers outside Quebec, three times as many as in 2018. This is the highest number of French-speaking immigrants admitted to Canada outside Quebec since we started collecting data in 2006. These French-speaking newcomers have already begun to enrich and contribute to their new francophone minority communities. They will support the preservation of the French language and help address the labour shortages across Canada, which will be beneficial to population growth and economic prosperity in francophone minority communities.

We reached our target for francophone through concrete actions, including increasing the additional points allocated to francophone and bilingual candidates under the express entry system in 2020; introducing the time-limited temporary resident to permanent resident pathway in 2021, a measure that had no cap; and improving promotional activities in Canada and abroad, including the Destination Canada mobility forum.

New financial investments announced at the end of April as part of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-28 provide $137.2 million over five years for seven francophone immigration initiatives. These investments provide IRCC with the means to contribute to the vitality of francophone minority communities across the country, notably with respect to their demographic weight. Taken together, the francophone immigration initiatives will contribute to consolidating IRCC's settlement and integration capacity by strengthening the francophone integration pathway and language training opportunities.

These investments will make it possible to continue to offer French-language services of equal quality to anglophone services to a growing number of French-speaking newcomers in francophone minority communities. This additional funding will also allow us to increase our promotional activities and lay the foundation for long-term improvements to selection mechanisms.

Among our initiatives, the new Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration located in Dieppe will explore new avenues to optimize our results and ensure we meet the diverse needs of francophone minority communities across the country.

We are committed to doing even more in the coming years. The new version of Bill C-13 sets out ambitious commitments for the government, particularly with regard to francophone immigration. The department is committed to successfully meeting this challenge. We are currently laying the groundwork for a new francophone immigration policy, including new admissions targets that will be ambitious and achievable.

We will continue to work in close collaboration with partners to provide francophone minority communities with the tools they need to welcome and retain people who want to set down roots in these communities, in particular, by pursuing the welcoming francophone communities initiative.

In closing, I hope I have given committee members a good idea of what our department is doing to encourage newcomers to settle in one of our many francophone minority communities across Canada.

Rest assured that we will do everything in our power to achieve ambitious new francophone immigration goals in the coming years.

With that, I would be pleased to answer the committee's questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Desruisseaux.

We'll now turn the floor over to Ms. Boyer, from the Department of Canadian Heritage, for five minutes.

[Julie Boyer, Assistant Deputy Minister, Official Languages, Heritage and Regions, Department of Canadian Heritage]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, committee members.

With me today is Sarah Boily, the director general of Official Languages. Thank you for inviting us to appear before you as part of your study on francophone immigration.

Francophone immigration is a key component of the Government of Canada's vision for the reform of Canada's language regime, which was made public in February 2021 in the document entitled “English and French: Towards a Substantive Equality of Official Languages in Canada”. Immigration is one of the factors that will help slow the decline of French and support the increase in the demographic weight of official language minority communities.

This key component of the reform of Canada's language regime is being implemented in two stages.

First, legislative measures on francophone immigration are included in Bill C-13, which aims to strengthen and modernize the Official Languages Act. Bill C-13, which you know well, proposes to add to the text of the act the obligation for the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to develop a francophone immigration policy that will contain objectives, targets and indicators.

Second, the initiatives in support of francophone immigration in the recently released official languages action plan for 2018 to 2023 total over $137 million over five years. There are also many other initiatives in the action plan that will contribute to establishing successful conditions for welcoming, integrating and retaining newcomers in official-language minority communities.

With Bill C-13, the desire to protect the demographic weight of francophone communities is being realized. In addition to providing for the adoption of a francophone immigration policy, which is a positive measure in itself, the bill reiterates the importance of essential sectors for the vitality of official language minority communities, such as culture, education, health, justice, employment and immigration.

Moreover, by strengthening part VII of the act and specifying the obligations of federal institutions to take positive measures and assess their impact, federal institutions are encouraged to take positive measures in all of these key areas. Restoring the demographic weight of francophone communities is really a shared responsibility and requires all key federal departments to play their part.

Francophone immigration is one of the four pillars on which the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-28 is based. As I mentioned, this pillar is the subject of new investments of more than $137 million over five years across seven initiatives in support of francophone immigration.

Through these initiatives, the federal government will stimulate francophone immigration to Canada in a number of ways.

Through these initiatives, the federal government will support Canadian employers in recruiting French-speaking foreign workers and increase supports provided to French-speaking immigrants upon their arrival in Canada. Colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada are developing an integrated approach to francophone immigration to stem the decline in the demographic weight of francophone populations in Canada. As well, the federal government plans a targeted expansion of promotion and recruitment supports for francophone immigration as well as a corridor for the international recruitment of French, French second-language and French immersion teachers.

I would also like to add that, in addition to the immigration initiatives that will be prepared and implemented by my colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, Canadian Heritage supports the initiative to support the recruitment and retention of French‑language teachers in Canada, which aims to recruit and retain teachers from recent immigration.

Finally, in the context of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–28, we are committed to fostering diversity, inclusion and equity objectives through new initiatives to support the most vulnerable clienteles.

In conclusion, I would like to say that immigration is one of the threads, if not one of the cables, that will make it possible to formulate a successful reform of Canada's language regime.

We would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Boyer.

Just to get us up to speed after the clause-by-clause study of Bill C-13, I want to tell you that the first round is six minutes for each political party. The subsequent rounds are five minutes for the official opposition and the government, and two and a half minutes for the second and third opposition parties.

We begin the first six-minute round for each party with the first vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being with us today. There are people around the table who we've seen frequently over the last few weeks and months, and we're glad to have been able to build a good relationship. I apologize for the inconvenience of the procedure in the House of Commons.

My questions will be directed first to Mr. Desruisseaux from IRCC. They will be brief and to the point.

Mr. Desruisseaux, I thought your opening remarks were interesting, in that I understood that everything was going well in terms of immigration to Canada and francophone immigration.

You said that in 2019, IRCC announced a francophone immigration strategy to reach a target of 4.4%. What was the target before 2019?

[Alain Desruisseaux]

To my knowledge, there was no clearly defined target that was agreed upon. However, that's something I'd like to check.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Okay.

If it's possible to pass that information on to the clerk, we'd appreciate it.

You also mentioned that in 2022, Canada welcomed more than 16,300 francophone newcomers outside Quebec, three times more than in 2018.

What was the impact of this on the demographic weight of francophone immigrants in Canada?