Madam Chair, can I excuse myself on the grounds that I am new here?
There is no single solution, no small action we can take. A whole series of measures is needed, and those measures will require all of us to really want to protect French.
For the first time, the federal government is recognizing that there is a minority in Canada and North America: the francophone community. I am the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Most importantly, I am an immigrant who went through the French integration process and the newcomer classes and who watched her mother make a concerted effort to integrate into her new city. To me, it is obvious that immigration is important and crucial to the future of French.
Our government is responsible for ensuring that the newcomers who come to Canada every year without knowing French start to learn French. We do that by transferring significant amounts of money to Quebec to support French integration, under the Canada-Quebec accord, which gives Quebec the exclusive power to select immigrants in several categories and to ensure that considerations such as French are respected and maintained.
According to Quebec's 2016 Samson report, more than 43% of those who settle in the Montreal area do not speak French when they arrive in Canada. As for the rest of Quebec, the statistics are a little more encouraging. Between 75% and 89% of newcomers, depending on the immigration class, say they speak French. However, 54% of those in the economic immigration class do not speak French when they arrive.
That is why investments in French integration are essential to ensure that all immigrants and newcomers like me, my family and my children can learn French, integrate into the host society, work in French, be taught in French and consume culture in French.
That is why the bill to modernize the Broadcasting Act put forward by my colleague the Minister of Canadian Heritage is important.
Like all members of the House, I want to ensure that we work together for the future of Quebec and Montreal in French because they must continue to be the cradle of the francophonie in North America.