Francophone immigration is crucial to the development of our official language minority communities. Indeed, according to statistics, we see that the relative weight of francophone communities is decreasing compared to that of the majority. Developing a francophone immigration strategy will now be an obligation enshrined in law, which is important.
In the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023‑28, there is funding for francophone immigration. So there's a link between the action plan and certain elements of the bill. This is very important. Indeed, during certain discussions, it was said that if there were no resources to implement this policy, it wouldn't get us very far.
On the other hand, though I'm no expert on the subject, I can see that the immigration issue is incredibly complex. There are many immigration categories in Canada, which creates a huge potential pool of immigration candidates, whether they be economic immigrants, refugees, family-sponsored immigrants, temporary workers or foreign students.
One thing is certain, the obligation enshrined in the law demonstrates the government's desire to develop a francophone immigration policy. I would like to see a holistic immigration strategy, distinct from a global immigration policy, that specifically addresses the immigration needs of minority language communities.
I think there are many ways in which Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada can help. I would also point out that this department has enormous discretionary power to choose who is admitted to Canada as an immigrant.