Madam Speaker, I would like to speak to this bill.
I used to be a Quebecker, having lived in Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean, in the city formerly known as Chicoutimi and now known as Saguenay; in the Eastern Townships, in the city of Sherbrooke; in Montreal, in Plateau Mont-Royal; and in the Outaouais, in Hull, now known as Gatineau. I have some perspectives to share about this bill and about the use of French in Quebec.
There certainly are concerns about wanting to increase the use of French in Quebec. Having lived in Quebec for more than 10 years and having always insisted on being served in French, even with my accent, I never experienced the problems that are often raised about downtown Montreal. Although I was never denied service in French, I believe the concerns that have been raised and I think we need to do more to protect and promote the French fact in Quebec and across Canada.
This is why I am proud of my party's history. As members know, the NDP was the first party to recognize Quebec's right to self-determination and to push for legislation on Canada's official languages.
When the NDP was in power in provinces where it previously formed a government, the French fact thrived. In my home province of British Columbia, the NDP is the one that implemented the existing francophone school system with dozens and dozens of schools following that curriculum. There are French schools for francophones all across British Columbia.
It was the same thing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In Alberta, Léo Piquette, a former NDP member, really helped to advance the French fact and the rights of Franco-Albertans. In Ontario, the NDP government established the francophone college network and increased services for francophones.
In New Brunswick, there was Elizabeth Weir, the former leader of our party in that province. There was also Yvon Godin, who was a member here in the House for a long time and who was recognized everywhere for his strong and passionate promotion of the French language and the Official Languages Act. We miss Yvon Godin. I know that Madam Speaker is also sorry that he is no longer a member of the House of Commons. We wish him a happy retirement. His voice was always extremely strong here in the House of Commons.
I am telling all these stories to illustrate the NDP approach to strengthening the French fact in Quebec and across Canada. Naturally, it starts with extending Bill 101 to federal institutions. People who work in Quebec must have the right to work in French. The systematic refusal, first by the Conservatives and then by the Liberals, to ensure that francophone workers can work in French in federal workplaces is a strange thing I have never understood. It is important to put these measures in place.
The NDP also strongly believes that Quebec's immigration-related rights need to be strengthened. We need increasing numbers of French-speaking immigrants. As everyone knows, the French fact is growing in importance internationally, and it is forecast that there will be a billion French speakers around the world within the next 20 years.
These statistics, which come from the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, also indicate that the French fact is expanding pretty much everywhere, especially in places like Africa. It is important to know this in order to understand how the French fact could be strengthened in Quebec and Canada.
This aspect is extremely important if we want to plan for francophone immigration. We have an inclusive immigration model in Canada, which makes this bill all the more interesting.
As I mentioned earlier in the House, I get a little concerned when I see the actions of the Government of Quebec around funding French courses and giving immigrants the right to take francization courses in Quebec. Two weeks ago, Radio-Canada published an article on this subject, which stated, “Many asylum seekers who were planning to attend francization courses in Quebec this fall are unable to do so. Radio-Canada has learned that new rules from the ministry of education are delaying their arrival at school or preventing them from being admitted altogether.”
The Government of Quebec is making cuts to French courses. However, these newcomers are hungry to learn French, like I was when I was in my 20s. My accent makes it easy to see that I am not a francophone. I started learning French in Chicoutimi when I was 24. I had this ideal and I thought it was extremely important to learn French, just like millions of anglophones across Canada.
In my neck of the woods, back home in New Westminster, parents line up every year to register their children in immersion schools. That does not happen so much in Quebec, but back home it is important. If people speak French well, that increases the consumption of francophone cultural products from Quebec and New Brunswick and the French language can take root, be promoted and flourish.
The Radio-Canada article talks about Christian and Ivonne, a young couple in their 30s, saying, “They left their native Colombia with their daughter to claim refugee protection in Canada in early 2020. They settled in Quebec and tried to take French language courses in the spring at a training centre for adults, but COVID-19 put everything on hold.”
They tried to register again at Centre du Phénix, but unfortunately they were informed of new rules established by Quebec's education ministry, which requires that they provide documents that are almost impossible to find to take a French course.
The Government of Quebec claims that it wants more people who speak French, but these new rules prevent newcomers from taking French courses. With all these delays, they will not have access to these courses, and that will have considerable consequences.
The NDP thinks it is clear that instead of punishing and dividing immigrants, it is important to offer them French language courses so they can learn French, as I did. Unfortunately, this bill does not facilitate an approach that would let everyone, including immigrants and refugees, take French courses. The NDP wants to promote the right of immigrants to learn French and to have access to these courses.