Citizenship and Immigration committee  That's the reality. Newcomers are increasingly bilingual, unlike a few years ago. They may not have a sufficiently functional level for a job, but they have master's degrees or doctorates. In addition, globalization is making people more and more multilingual. We must bear that i

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The investment is significant, but we must also ensure that the services are adequate. After all, we are dealing with people's lives. When immigrants arrive in Canada, they have needs, and we must ensure that we invest in the right place to meet them, because that is what will ma

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Our services must be more efficient and much more client-oriented. The language issue matters, but so does the effectiveness of the services. We must therefore ensure that we provide services that produce results. Otherwise, the immigrants will go elsewhere. When we offered our

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  In 80% of cases, those to whom we provided pre-departure services were in regulated professions. We very quickly faced this issue particularly when it came to veterinarians or engineers who had to enter the labour market. We provided them with personalized services. That is one o

Official Languages committee  Very often, you know, there are joint action mechanisms in francophone communities, either at the national level or in the provinces and territories. As I was saying, economic integration is part of the immigration process. We have issue tables where we sit with other organizati

Official Languages committee  Yes, absolutely. We are very pleased that this program is available, and we use it. We provide the information to the employers. When we meet them, the employers tell us that they do not care whether candidates are anglophones or francophones, so long as they have the skills they

Official Languages committee  The majority of them head for the cities. In fact, 66% of our francophone immigrants outside Quebec arrive in Ontario first. Many of them are in Toronto or Ottawa. However, after we talk with them and introduce the services we offer, they are ready to go elsewhere. In fact, it de

Official Languages committee  First of all, the francophone Pre-Departure services have only been in place since last year. There were none for francophones previously. We put this program in place last year. We manage the employability aspect and the information on economic integration. We have a funding agr

Official Languages committee  In fact, even if these issues are becoming less challenging, language training and the recognition of credentials are still problematic for immigrants and francophone communities.

Official Languages committee  As I was saying, our communities are facing a challenge when it comes to finding a new generation of entrepreneurs. Many francophone business owners have reached retirement age and they need someone to take over. Some francophone immigrants arrive with entrepreneurial projects. O

Official Languages committee  No problem.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely.

Official Languages committee  In fact, that is 12% of the entire francophone immigrant community. The increase I was talking about concerned immigrants outside Quebec from 1991 to 2011. During that period, the number of francophone immigrants outside Quebec, in the rest of the country as a whole, went from 6%

Official Languages committee  There are professional corporations everywhere, and they have criteria. Since all of the professions are regulated, newcomers cannot immediately practice their profession, but must go through a process. In certain provinces, the process may be easier than in others, but they cert