Mr. Chair, Vice-Chairs, members of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, I would like to begin by thanking you for the interest you have shown in Québec International by agreeing to invite us to participate in the efforts toward increased francophone immigration to Canada. lt is an honour for me to have the opportunity to discuss this subject with you.
As a regional economic development agency, Québec International promotes business growth, supports key clusters and attracts talent and investment to the area. In the current context of labour scarcity in the province of Quebec, and especially in the National Capital and Chaudière-Appalaches regions where we operate, the agency is more than aware of the key role of people of immigrant backgrounds on our territory.
Last April, the unemployment rate was 1.7% in the Quebec City census metropolitan area, the lowest among the 47 main Canadian regions. Labour scarcity, as we can see, remains a very current challenge for entrepreneurs in the region. And yet fifteen years ago, in 2008, we could already see labour challenges starting to appear on the horizon, which prompted our organization to set up international recruitment initiatives and missions abroad. Over the years, talent attraction became one of the major mandates of our economic development agency.
ln absolute numbers, the National Capital Region welcomed 5,377 newcomers in 2022, compared to 2,340 in 2021. This represents a 130% increase during the last year. We can see the same trend on the south shore of Quebec City. The Chaudière-Appalaches region welcomed over 1,200 immigrants in 2022. Over the past year, 13 of the 17 administrative regions in the province of Quebec reached their highest net international migration rate since at least 2021.
This performance illustrates a clear trend towards the regionalization of immigration in Quebec. It can be explained in part by international talent recruitment activities in a context of labour scarcity. This indicates that the number of positions on the job market continues to grow, but also that the demand for workers is increasing.
This situation therefore invites the organization to strengthen and pursue its efforts related to the recruitment of international workers and students. However, employers and educational establishments, just like the candidates we accompany, face many challenges linked to their international mobility project. Today, we'd like to give you a few examples.
Firstly, the rate of visa refusals from French-speaking African countries is a major concern, particularly for educational establishments. Secondly, there are abnormally long processing times for work permits, in excess of five months, in Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.
Abroad, we also note that Canadian embassies sometimes find themselves in competition with Quebec to help attract French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec. In addition, local legal support services, in the form of individual consultations for temporary workers and their families in vulnerable situations, are not easily accessible.
Also, our new arrivals are regularly faced with waiting lists for access to francization. Access to francization prior to arrival would benefit from greater development, especially in non-French-speaking countries, such as those in Latin America, where there is a high potential for francization.
Finally, the inadequate alignment of administrative procedures between the two levels of government, Quebec and Canada, creates a great deal of confusion, particularly during regulatory changes.
I believe that these issues should be raised as part of this present consultation and brought to your attention, in order to encourage an increase in French-speaking immigration to Canada and more specifically to our region, that of Quebec.
In closing, I would once again like to thank you for listening.
I would be delighted to answer any questions you may have.