Official Languages Committee on June 2nd, 2023

[Anne-Michèle Meggs]

In fact, we need French-speaking immigrants throughout Canada. That's kind of the point I'm trying to make. If the number of francophones drops in Quebec, it's going to drop everywhere in Canada. There's already a lot of interprovincial migration, so there's no need to encourage that.

The Canada-Quebec agreement on immigration is an example of how the asymmetry of the language issue was recognized 50 years ago. In this agreement, as in previous ones, the federal government clearly recognized the need to protect French in Quebec. To this was added Bill C‑13, which specifies that Canada should not implement policies that run counter to the objective of protecting French in all provinces, including Quebec.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I have one last question for the FCFA representatives.

Have you considered the impact of assimilation, i.e., the ever-increasing rates of language transfer to English?

In a context where the rate of assimilation continues to rise, aren't efforts in the area of francophone immigration just a flash in the pan?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's an excellent question, Mr. Beaulieu, but your six minutes are up.

It's now Mr. Boulerice's turn, and he's happy to finally come and sit down at the—

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Audrée Dallaire]

In fact, Mr. Boulerice has been replaced by Mr. Johns.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm sorry, Mr. Johns.

You have the honour of sitting here in the best committee on the Hill.

It's your turn, for six minutes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

It's a huge honour to be joining you at this committee, especially with such an important conversation.

First, I want to thank the witnesses for the conversation.

I'll start with Mr. Méhou-Loko.

British Columbia, my home province, right now has the fifth-largest francophone community. We're competing for fourth right now. Can you speak about what better supports need to be in place to support immigrants, but also the challenges in ensuring that British Columbia maintains that level within the francophone community and that immigration gets as far west as British Columbia?

We know it's a huge challenge for the francophone community, and for British Columbians in general, to ensure that we maintain that level of francophones.

[Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko]

Thank you very much for that excellent question.

At the FCFA, we are following the British Columbia issue very closely, as you know. To date, several decisions have been made in this regard.

That being said, I'm going to turn the floor over to the FCFA's general manager, Mr. Alain Dupuis, who will give you a few answers on the subject.

[Alain Dupuis, Executive Director, Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada]

In British Columbia, the challenge is to select more francophones for the Provincial Nominee Program. The majority of immigrants are selected by the province. However, the vast majority of federal immigrants still choose Ontario and Quebec.

This is a conversation that needs to take place between the two levels of government. The federal government certainly needs to think about how to ensure that the immigrants it brings to Canada will settle across the country, so that francophone immigration doesn't essentially benefit Ontario and New Brunswick, as is currently the case. So there's work to be done and thought to be given to the immigrants selected by the federal government and how to ensure that they settle across the country.

However, the provincial part is important. In this regard, couldn't the federal government also encourage the provinces to adopt a quota of francophones in the Provincial Nominee Program, to ensure that the selection is made at all levels?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you.

Ms. Sacko, can you speak about what the federal government is doing to support the operations within Accueil francophone du Manitoba and other settlement services?

[Bintou Sacko]

Thank you for your question.

At both the federal and provincial levels, governments are very involved in the settlement of immigrants who arrive here. Refugees are also part of the new arrivals. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada funds settlement services for convention refugees, as well as a share of some privately sponsored refugee programs. Settlement services help these people establish themselves in the community, with transitional housing and assistance in acquiring permanent housing, for example. Many services are federally funded, such as employment assistance, health services, cultural services and early childhood services.

The Manitoba government, which is very involved in the process, funds settlement programs for immigrants who come to Manitoba, but it's not enough. When we talk about the program aimed specifically at francophones, we're talking about the principle of services offered by and for francophones. In an English-speaking province where we know that assimilation is very strong, we would also like to see some equity in terms of settlement services and service quality. We'd like to see the aforementioned principle taken into account, and for these services to be managed by French-speaking organizations, specifically to help French-speaking immigrants. Francophone immigrants face a double challenge in minority communities such as Manitoba. The language challenge is real. After their arrival, immigrants are obliged to upgrade their language skills. It's part of their integration process. We have to finance these language courses. This doesn't necessarily delay their integration, but it does lengthen it. If you have to take the time, when you've already...

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Eighty-five per cent of immigrants from Africa who settled in Manitoba between 2011 and 2021 reported English as their first official language spoken, but only 8% reported French as their first official language.

What are the long-term consequences for francophone immigrants, and for Canadian society in general, if the government's investment in settlement services does not increase?

This is for Ms. Sacko again.

[Bintou Sacko]

If settlement services aren't better funded, they'll be discouraged. Our aim is to create a link with the French-speaking world. There's a lot of effort being put into recruiting francophones who can strengthen the demographic weight of francophone minority communities. When these people arrive and see the language burden, there's a risk that they'll assimilate and move away from the francophone community if they don't also have access to services...

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Sacko. I know six minutes is short, but we have to give everyone a chance to speak.

We will now have two five-minute rounds.

Madame Gladu, you have the floor.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.

Ms. Abdi Aden, you're very familiar with the situation of services to francophones across Canada. What are the biggest problems in this regard? What is the situation?

[Roukya Abdi Aden]

I'm going to answer from the angle of economic integration, because that's my field of expertise.

The services we offer are basic. We help immigrants write a résumé, for example, when they need something else. I spoke to you about the different challenges of integration. We're talking about recognition of prior learning and job search, among other things. We're not able to offer much more than basic services to French-speaking immigrants, because we have limited funding.

When it comes to economic integration, there's a lot of work to be done with the employer beforehand. When an immigrant arrives and wants to find a job, that's when we miss an opportunity in Canada. Even if you bring in skilled people, they have to work in the areas of expertise for which they've been trained. Twenty immigrants were once asked to raise their hands if they were working in their field of expertise, and 90% of them didn't raise their hands. It's kind of a waste.

For our part, we're not funded to work with employers. There's a lot of preliminary work to be done to accompany employers and connect them with job offers. These services are almost free. We're told to do economic integration, but it's not just about preparing CVs or giving workers a bit of information about the job market. It's about supporting them a little more deeply, helping them get in touch with employers and working with Canadian employers to get them to hire these French-speaking immigrants.

There's also the entrepreneurship aspect. There's a lot of work to be done in this area, because we have a serious recovery problem in Canada. Many business owners are about to retire, so we need to stabilize the entrepreneurial system in Canada.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you.

The next question is for Ms. Sacko.

When you talked about increasing consular services abroad, you also said we should get rid of arbitrary criteria. Can you tell us what you think the arbitrary criteria are?

[Bintou Sacko]

I think I mentioned two of these arbitrary criteria. First, if students say they want to stay in Canada after their studies, the officer refuses them the visa outright. If they have to present a career plan and the officer doesn't find it clear, he can refuse them a visa.

In other words, an agent can sometimes reject an application simply because he or she is not convinced of the merits of the case. But what exactly does this mean? Does it mean that the applicant does not have sufficient financial means? Does it mean that the agent simply doesn't like the photo? Does it mean that the form is badly filled in?

There are arbitrary refusals like this which are not justified and which lead to a kind of systematic rejection. It's the system that rejects people, and we have no idea why there are these arbitrary refusals. This needs to be much clearer.

If the file is poorly put together, the person should be given the chance to review or update it. If it's a question of a lack of financial means, the applicant should be given the chance to prove, for example through other bank accounts, that he or she has sufficient financial means to make the application acceptable. The current criteria don't help the client at all, and his file is rejected arbitrarily.

[Marilyn Gladu, Conservative, Sarnia—Lambton, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Meggs, you talked about the initiatives Quebec has taken to increase francophone immigration. Could you give us a few examples?

[Anne-Michèle Meggs]

Quebec recently announced that it would make knowledge of French mandatory for all categories of permanent residents. This means that the newcomer will have to know some French before being selected by Quebec. The level of French knowledge will be verified by language tests. In addition...

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Meggs. I know the speaking time is short. This round was five minutes. You can come back later to answer other questions.

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

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses who are with us today to help us find ways to increase francophone immigration to Canada.

I'll start with you, Ms. Abdi Aden. In the past, we've done a bit of recruiting together in the third world for Destination Canada.

As you know, our government has invested $4.1 billion to ensure that the Official Languages Act will truly facilitate development on the ground. Immigration is one of the four pillars of the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023‑28. How will this investment in the action plan help organizations increase the number of francophone immigrants and retain them in provinces other than Quebec?

[Roukya Abdi Aden]

Thank you, Mr. Samson. It's a pleasure to talk to you again.

This new investment is very timely and will help us a great deal with international recruitment. I believe there's a $25‑million fund over five years dedicated to this.

As I was saying, we want to put in place a targeted recruitment strategy, targeting countries where there are candidates with the skills Canada needs, to meet the labour needs of employers in every province.

I like Destination Canada and we should keep it, but it would be important to explore other recruitment pools. We need to match employers' needs with immigrants' skills. We need to select people based on job opportunities in the various provinces.

Earlier, Mr. Dupuis talked about the number of French-speaking candidates who settle in provinces other than Quebec. Sixty percent of them settle in Ontario and the remaining 40% in other provinces. This leaves some communities with very few French-speaking immigrants. What's more, the skills of the people living in these provinces don't necessarily correspond to the needs of the job market or to what is required in job offers. Organizing targeted recruitment missions in partnership with employers would therefore go a long way towards improving matters.

Of course, there's the whole aspect of francophone immigration policy that will be deployed. We'll also be improving settlement services, because we need to go beyond the basic services offered by francophone service providers, and offer slightly more specialized services that meet the needs of the candidates we receive.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much. I look forward to seeing these improvements in the near future. Thank you for your input.

Representatives of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada, you began your remarks by thanking our committee, but we must also thank you for the work you've done and for your testimonials. It helps us make progress on this vital issue.

This year, we're at 4.4% francophone immigration. How did we manage to reach this target this year? The governments of the last 25 years, both Liberal and Conservative, have never been able to exceed 2%. What did we do differently?

[Yves-Gérard Méhou-Loko]

That's an excellent question, and one we in fact put to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to find out whether a new formula had made it possible to reach the target.

It's true that the 4.4% target has been reached, but it's by no means enough. We need to do better, and as everyone who has spoken so far has said, we need to review our recruitment pools. We absolutely must be a little more innovative in the measures we take and, above all, set much more innovative and ambitious targets.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We'll have to dig a little deeper to find the formula, but it's off to a good start.