Official Languages committee  There are the Francophonie countries, of course, as well as countries whose nationals can learn French more quickly upon arrival in Canada, such as Spain. However, the majority of applications come from North African countries that are former French colonies. These are the larges

Official Languages committee  Quebec recently announced that it would make knowledge of French mandatory for all categories of permanent residents. This means that the newcomer will have to know some French before being selected by Quebec. The level of French knowledge will be verified by language tests. In a

Official Languages committee  In fact, we need French-speaking immigrants throughout Canada. That's kind of the point I'm trying to make. If the number of francophones drops in Quebec, it's going to drop everywhere in Canada. There's already a lot of interprovincial migration, so there's no need to encourage

Official Languages committee  I had, in fact, prepared a short list for you. Actually, we've just talked about one of the examples, namely the refusal rate for applications for study permits or visitor visas, among others, from Africa in general, but French-speaking Africa in particular. Another example is

Official Languages committee  That's an important question. Recruitment has never been easy, but it has to be said that, in terms of principal applicants in the skilled worker category, Quebec was able, thanks to its selection grid, which it has just set aside and which gave points for French, to select a ma

Official Languages committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's always an honour and a privilege to appear before you. Since our last meeting in April 2022, on this same matter, a number of important events and decisions have occurred. On the federal side, Bill C‑13, An Act to amend the Official Langu

Official Languages committee  I think the restorative exercise will be difficult. I don't know exactly what you want to restore or what targets would be acceptable to you. If old stock francophones outside Quebec, and even in Quebec, start adopting English, then I think it's magical thinking to believe that w

Official Languages committee  Yes, definitely. We often hear about algorithms that have an unrecognized bias.

Official Languages committee  About the hiring of temporary foreign workers?

Official Languages committee  It surprised me when I discovered that there were ceilings, that this option was available to employers outside Quebec. Quebec employers complain a lot about delays in the temporary foreign worker program. Incidentally, those are closed permits. If they had the option of having o

Official Languages committee  It's already hard, and it will always be a challenge to sustain the French language in North America. However, having a critical mass of francophones in Quebec will nevertheless simultaneously help francophones outside Quebec. You can't imagine you can abandon French in Quebec an

Official Languages committee  Ideally, we should be able to recruit immigrants directly from abroad to find people who already speak French. The problem is that, with temporary immigration, people arrive here, begin their studies in English or another language and work in English. It's unreasonable to think t

Official Languages committee  I spent the final years of my career working in accountability. I never encountered a situation in which increasing a target that could not previously be met changed anything. In regionalization, in Quebec, since they had only reached 15%, the decision was made to raise the targe

Official Languages committee  That's hard to say; it depends. Many of the people in that group come from Haiti, but it's hard to say whether that'll make a big difference in the francophonie issue.

Official Languages committee  I'd say it's unfortunate.