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.