Mr. Chair, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague, the member for Madawaska—Restigouche, for his hard work over the past decade on behalf of his community in New Brunswick, as well as the Canadian francophone community and Acadians. I want to congratulate him once again on the research and the work he did before entering politics to support official language minority communities. It has been a pleasure to work with him and his constituents over the past year. They are very fortunate to have such a dedicated member of Parliament.
For me, the French language is central to Canadian identity and culture. By protecting it, we are preserving part of what sets us apart as a country. Thanks to our programs, we have met and even exceeded, as the member said, our target for francophone immigration outside Quebec for four consecutive years, which puts us on track to achieve 12% francophone immigration by 2029. This year, we are reserving an additional 5,000 spaces for the provinces and territories to welcome francophone immigrants. I would like to take this opportunity to say that New Brunswick is a leader in filling these spaces, and I hope that many provinces will follow suit. This is a new initiative I have launched as minister. We did so because we realize that we need to increase francophone immigration and strengthen our partnership with the provinces, territories, communities and organizations.
We are also continuing to invest in community projects that inform, attract and integrate francophone immigrants outside Quebec. We are making modifications to the settlement program and protecting it.