Thank you for your question.
Madam McPherson, thank you very much for your question about our 4.4% target for 2023.
I can tell you that IRCC has advanced in a number of ways over the past several years to work much more closely with the francophone minority communities outside of Quebec. Last year we increased the number of francophone service providers outside of Quebec from 50 to 80 and invested many more millions of dollars in francophone services. Just a few weeks ago our minister, Minister Fraser, added nine additional resettlement agencies to assist with the incoming Afghan refugees. We doubled the number of francophone resettlement agencies in that announcement, adding agencies in Bathurst and Edmonton as well as in Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, so in your province.
In addition, in order to meet the target, last year we put in place a TR-to-PR pathway initiative, with no caps on the francophone applicants, with a view to increasing the number of international students here in Canada who could apply for permanent residency. There were more than 7,000 applications for that initiative, and we hope that will go a long way to increasing the number of landings to address the 4.4% target.
I must say, however, Madam McPherson, that we are in a pandemic, and the pandemic has in fact been quite an issue, not only for francophone newcomers but for all newcomers to the country. Closed borders and the continuing pandemic have affected the number of newcomers to our country.