Francophone immigration, outside Quebec!

Quebec risks having a strong competitor in its efforts to recruit French-speaking immigrants because the federal government has decided to use drastic measures to attract them to other provinces and territories.

Ottawa is relying heavily on Francophone immigration to counter the erosion of the demographic weight of Francophones in a minority situation, that is to say outside Quebec. It is even the first pillar of its Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028, tabled on April 26.

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“To provide elements of a solution, the Action Plan suggests the adoption of a new Francophone immigration policy. This new policy will help guide future actions, [including] enhanced recruitment promotion and support efforts both in Canada and abroad combined with more robust immigrant selection mechanisms," he said. we.

Canada has reached its target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec, with 16,300 people, for the first time in 2022. But more will be needed to counter the erosion. In 20 years, the proportion of Francophones outside Quebec has gone from 4.4% to 3.3%, according to Statistics Canada.

To restore the demographic weight of the Francophonie to 4.4%, the target for Francophone immigration outside Quebec should increase from 12% in 2024 to 20% in 2036, according to the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada.

“We suggest a progressive target, specifies the president of the organization, Liane Roy. We start at 12% to reach 20% in 2036.”

The federal government has yet to announce new targets, but the $137.2 million budget dedicated to this issue in its five-year plan indicates that efforts will be intensified.

Of this total, a budget of $18.5 million will be devoted to increased promotion and recruitment efforts, $50 million will go to supporting the settlement and integration of immigrants and to strengthening the reception capacities of Francophone communities, and $25 million for a new Francophone Immigration Innovation Center that will support these communities, among other things.

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Word of mouth

This recruitment and reception policy comes at a time when Quebec tends to turn off the tap. "Which means that Quebec will find itself with a major competitor for Francophone immigration, because we have one more step, with the Quebec selection certificate (CSQ)", advances Gabrielle Thiboutot, lawyer specializing in immigration.

Another phenomenon can be added to this: word of mouth.

We have seen, in immigration files, how the existence of good leads can spread like wildfire all over the world.

This was obviously the case of the Roxham road, known from Venezuela to Pakistan. But also other sectors, such as colleges which have attracted an Indian clientele. The message that French-speaking candidates are welcome in Canada will quickly be heard in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The challenge will be to convince these candidates that the other Canadian provinces will constitute an attractive living environment, knowing that their natural place of departure would rather have been Quebec.

"The best option"

The Algerian Tayeb Oussedik is one of the convinced. He chose Manitoba over Quebec for its bilingualism. In Winnipeg for just over two years, he is the assistant director of Accueil francophone, an organization that facilitates the settlement of Francophone and allophone immigrants in Manitoba.

“My wife and I are basically globetrotters,” he explains. We did around thirty countries before deciding to settle somewhere. Weighing the pros and cons, we felt that, perhaps, for our children, Canada would be the best option, for its education system, its bilingualism. That explains why we did not choose Quebec. »

Why Manitoba? “In Manitoba, there is this connection to nature that I have not seen elsewhere,” he replies. Beyond that, it is also for the opportunities that the province could offer from the point of view of employability. I arrived in Winnipeg. After a month, I found a job. After three months, I was promoted. After two years, I had a position that I never thought I would have in another province. The Reception and Settlement Service was a great help to me. »

112,000

Number of people in Manitoba who have knowledge of French, up slightly from 108,000 in 2016

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Source: Statistique Canada
Article original: La Presse