Official Languages Committee on Oct. 4th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Castonguay.

Mr. Beaulieu, you have the floor for one minute and fifteen seconds.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In your opinion, does federal language policy take scientific data into account? Is it based on science?

[Prof. Charles Castonguay]

No. It's going in the wrong direction and heading straight for the wall.

Mr. Samson, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but according to the last census, the anglicization rate of native French-speaking Nova Scotians was 57%. The majority are becoming anglicized, despite French-language schooling. Even in Quebec, French-language schooling isn't working. Half of those who attend francophone primary and secondary schools because they have to, go on to attend an English CEGEP. On the island of Montreal, English-language CEGEPs now take half of all new recruits, while there is one anglophone for every three francophones on the island.

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

Mr. Castonguay, to buck this trend a little, what if we adopted a model—

[Prof. Charles Castonguay]

I haven't even mentioned Alberta yet. There, only one person in 1,000 becomes French-speaking and adopts French as the language used at home. In Quebec, the majority become French speakers. Send people where they can thrive in French, have children in French and contribute to Canada's linguistic duality.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Mr. Castonguay.

Ms. Ashton has the floor for one minute and fifteen seconds.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to ask Mr. Pichette one last question. Just before I do, though, I want to say that, as a francophile from Western Canada, I'm a little troubled by some of the comments I've heard during this meeting. Of course, we welcome all testimony. That said, here in Western Canada, we need immigration and we need to continue to meet the significant demand in our communities for education in French, not to mention early childhood services in French and French immersion classes. That's how we'll grow a bilingual generation across the country, outside Quebec.

A few minutes ago, Mr. Pichette, you shared some really striking examples with us. Can you give us any other examples of things IRCC hasn't done what is needed to help people who want to immigrate to Canada?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton. That's a very good question. Unfortunately, we are out of time. We have to move on to the second hour of our meeting, which will be devoted to other witnesses.

Mr. Pichette and Mr. Castonguay—unfortunately, Mr. Paquet was unable to join us—if you think of any other information that's important for us to have, please share it with our clerk. You can put it in writing, and the clerk will ensure that all the information is sent to committee members.

Congratulations, Mr. Pichette. You were nervous, as it was your first time here, but you needn't have worried.

All of the witnesses did a good job. Your interventions were clear. Thank you very much, on behalf of the committee.

Once again, please feel free to send us in writing any additional information you think we should consider as part of our study.

Thank you very much.

I'll suspend the meeting long enough to let our next guests in.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We are back in session.

I'd like to welcome the new Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and his accompanying officials, Ms. Fox, Deputy Minister, and Ms. Scott, Assistant Deputy Minister, Settlement and Integration.

As you know since you're used to appearing in committee, you have five minutes for your speech. Then we'll move on to questions. I'm very strict about keeping to the time limit, to give everyone a chance to ask their questions.

Minister, you have the floor.

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

Point of order, Mr. Chair.

I just wanted to make sure we're on the same page. The motion adopted by the committee for today's meeting stipulated that we would have a full hour with the minister. Earlier, there seemed to be a scheduling problem for committee members on the other side of the table. I'd just like to remind everyone that the wording of the motion that was proposed and adopted clearly states that it's a full hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, the motion does indeed say that it's a full hour, but, as you've seen, we experienced technical problems in the first hour, unfortunately. It's nobody's fault, not mine or yours. It is certainly not the minister's fault.

As you know, it takes the unanimous consent of the committee to be able to exceed the meeting's normally scheduled end time.

I suggest we start right away to maximize our time with the witnesses who are here.

Minister, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Minister of Immigration]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Kuei kuei, ullukkut, tansi,bonjour, hello.

As you indicated, Mr. Chair, I have with me today my colleagues Christiane Fox and Catherine Scott.

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that we are on the unceded traditional territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.

I am pleased to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages for the first time as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Colleagues, thank you for inviting me to participate in today's discussion.

For years, we've been seeing a demographic decline in francophone communities outside Quebec, as I'm sure you are aware, particularly given that this committee includes representatives from some of those communities. According to Statistics Canada's 2021 Census, the percentage of francophones has declined in every region of the country, with the exception of the Yukon.

One way to support the vitality of the French language in Canada is to increase francophone immigration to strengthen the linguistic, demographic and economic fabric of francophone communities. We have been spearheading several initiatives to boost francophone immigration in minority francophone communities and we're already seeing some positive results, with more to come.

In 2022, we reached our target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec, a year ahead of schedule. We will maintain that same target for this year. However, there is still much work to be done to strengthen the French language in Canada.

We are working with our partners, including community stakeholders, to set new targets for the next three years. These will be ambitious, realistic and achievable targets that will help us address the issue of declining francophone minority communities.

IRCC's relationship with Quebec, as you no doubt know, is defined by the Canada-Quebec Accord. This agreement is guided by the principle that immigration must help preserve Quebec's demographic weight and protect its distinct identity. Our government will continue to work with the Quebec government to maintain the vitality of the French language and defend Quebec's interests.

There are other ambitious measures the Government of Canada is taking to protect the French language. This is demonstrated in the recent release of our comprehensive five-year plan, “Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration”. It includes seven key initiatives that build on existing measures and it introduce new ones totalling more than $137 million over five years.

The modernization of the Official Languages Act, which received royal assent in June of this year, recognizes the importance of leveraging immigration to enhance the vitality of francophone minority communities. We're working to increase and restore their demographic weight by taking a whole-of-government approach to achieve our goals.

To that end, we are currently working on developing the francophone immigration policy, including new admission targets for French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec. Reforms to the Express Entry system, which allow for targeted selection of French-speaking applicants, will be crucial in helping us meet our commitments for francophone immigration after 2023.

The new policy will guide future action on francophone immigration outside Quebec, and will aim to foster the vitality of Canada's francophone minorities and contribute to maintaining or increasing their demographic weight.

These initiatives will help promote the French language across Canada. Our efforts will enhance the cultures of francophone communities outside Quebec and contribute to slowing and progressively turning around the troubling trend of a declining francophone population.

We are continuing our efforts in francophone immigration outside Quebec, a top priority for the coming years.

Thank you. I'm now ready to answer your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Minister. You finished your presentation in four minutes. That's better than five.

We'll begin the first round of questions. Each intervention will be six minutes, which includes questions and comments.

We begin with the committee's vice-chair.

Mr. Godin, you have six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thanks for being here.

First of all, I want to thank you for being available after you were appointed. We had an immigration file to deal with together, and I had the chance to speak to you directly. I just wanted to say thank you.

Now, to get to the heart of the matter. I mean no disrespect, but I'm going to ask you some short questions and I'm hoping your answers will be short as well, since we don't have much time.

Here's my first question. You've been a minister since July 26. Have you received your mandate letter from the Prime Minister?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

No, I haven't.

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

Is there a deadline for that? Should we rely on the former immigration minister's mandate letter, or do you expect to receive a new letter?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

First of all, I have my own priorities. Obviously, the former minister's mandate letter is still in effect, given the objectives that were previously set for the department. As you know, committee work doesn't necessarily last, it goes beyond the mandate of a particular minister. I intend to continue fulfilling the—

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

Thank you. In fact, what you mean is that it's a copy-paste of what was done before. The Cabinet shuffle did not give us a new minister to revive francophone and anglophone immigration to Canada.

Is that the case?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

With all due respect, that's not necessarily true. I know Minister Fraser had his priorities. As you know, he learned French when he was minister, which is commendable.

I have my own goals and ambitions. As you know, I'm concerned with—

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

Minister, you don't have a mandate letter from the Prime Minister.

Is that correct?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I have my priorities and I communicate directly—

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

Minister, you don't have a mandate letter from the Prime Minister. Is that correct?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I don't write the mandate letters, as you know, Mr. Godin, but I do have my priorities. I have communicated my four priorities directly to the Prime Minister.

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

However, you don't know whether the Prime Minister is going to come back to you with a mandate letter or not. You don't have that information. I understand that it's not up to you.

Is that the case?

[Marc Miller, Liberal, Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Soeurs, QC]

I have work to do.