LANG Committee Report

FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRATION: ACTING NOW FOR THE FUTURE OF FRANCOPHONE MINORITY COMMUNITIES

The New Democratic Party (NDP) believes it is important to accurately reflect the diversity and wealth of the evidence heard from the witnesses who appeared before the Committee. Consequently, we wish to present aspects of the evidence that have been overlooked or are absent from the official report despite their unquestionable relevance to francophone immigration.

The NDP believes that immigration is a key tool for enhancing the vitality and supporting the development of francophone minority communities. The Official Opposition is disappointed with how little interest the Conservative government shows in francophone immigration to Canada. The statistics on francophone immigration speak for themselves. In 2011, francophone immigrants made up only 1.3% of recent immigrants outside Quebec, while the target was simply to maintain the demographic weight of francophones outside Quebec at 4.4%.[i] According to the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne (FCFA), Canada is headed for demographic disaster for francophones[ii] if nothing is done to increase the percentage of francophone immigrants. The same dire warning has been issued by the Commissioner of Official Languages, who stressed the importance of acting now on immigration to ensure the future of francophone communities.[iii]

Despite these alarming statistics, there is no sign that the government is prepared to actually get involved to redress the situation. The new Express Entry system is a good illustration of the Conservative government’s laissez-faire attitude to francophone immigration. With the Express Entry system, we see the government once again walking away from its official languages responsibilities by leaving immigrant selection mainly up to employers, who are not subject to the same linguistic obligations as is the government. This situation is alarming to many stakeholders, including the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta (ACFA), which fears that federal commitments to francophone communities are being diluted.[iv] The initial figures from the Express Entry system provided to the Committee by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration are indeed alarming: less than 1% of francophone immigrants in the first pool and only 2.5% in the second.[v] These results fall far short of the government’s target of 4.4%. It is also worth noting that the Express Entry system was developed without consulting francophone minority communities. It is particularly worrisome to see that the funding promised under the Roadmap for immigration was not used for that purpose.

Many immigration and official languages stakeholders have criticized the lack of consultation regarding immigration decisions that affect them directly. Instead of consulting stakeholders on the ground, the government made its decisions behind closed doors, decisions that may have a significant impact such as the 2012 cancellation of funding to help francophone minority communities attract francophone immigrants by taking part in Destination Canada.

The federal government has a duty to act on francophone immigration under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Official Languages Act. As well, the government must apply the principle of substantive equality when it develops, implements, changes or wishes to abolish immigration programs or policies. According to Treasury Board, the government must take into account the “differences in characteristics and circumstances of minority communities and provides services with distinct content or using a different method of delivery to ensure that the minority receives services of the same quality as the majority.”[vi]

Lastly, according to recommendations from the FCFA[vii] and the Commissioner of Official Languages,[viii] the federal government must immediately implement a strategic plan to foster immigration to Canada’s francophone communities, and this plan must be developed in consultation with the various levels of government, the communities and immigration and official languages stakeholders.

The NDP recommends that the government implement the following recommendations:

Recommendation 1

That the Government of Canada develop a strategic plan to foster francophone immigration and that this plan be developed in partnership with the provinces and territories, municipalities and francophone minority communities. This plan is to be tailored to the needs of the various regions and communities.

Recommendation 2

That Citizenship and Immigration Canada ensure that its immigrant services programs respect the principle of substantive equality so that immigration service providers in francophone minority communities can provide services of equal quality to those available from anglophone majority immigration service providers.

Recommendation 3

That the Government of Canada recognize the urgent need to act and make francophone immigration a priority. This requires the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to ensure that his department applies a francophone lens and the principle of substantive equality at each stage of policy and program development. As such, the Express Entry system must be immediately assessed based on these principles in order to address deficiencies.