Minister Jean Boulet said during a debate in Mauricie on September 21 that 80% of immigrants “do not work, do not speak French or do not adhere to the values of Quebec society”. He defended himself by saying he “poorly expressed his thoughts”.
“80% of immigrants go to Montreal not working, speaking French or not adhering to the values of Quebec society,” Mr Boulet said on the air of ICI Mauricie last Wednesday.
The Minister for Immigration, Franciscation and Integration also stressed that the debate on the number of immigrants to be admitted was purely academic. “The immigrants, the thresholds, that’s a purely academic debate that has to be well integrated,” he said.
These comments contrast with certain statements by outgoing Prime Minister François Legault, who claims that the CAQ government ensured that “80% of new arrivals speak French before being selected”.
In fact, according to the Department of Immigration, as of 2021, 84.4% of economic immigrants welcomed by Quebec spoke French.
In addition, according to the Quebec Institute of Statistics, the proportion of immigrants who arrived in Montreal was 65% last year.
After these remarks resurfaced on social networks, Jean Boulet posted a message on Twitter expressing that his words exceeded his thoughts.
“I’m sorry I expressed my thoughts poorly. The excerpt aired does not reflect what I think. We must remain focused on welcoming, francizing and integrating immigrants, who are a source of wealth for Quebec,” he wrote.
I’m sorry I expressed my thoughts poorly. The excerpt aired does not reflect what I think. We must remain focused on welcoming, francizing and integrating immigrants, who are a source of wealth for Quebec.
— Jean Boulet (@JeanBoulet10) September 28, 2022
“Jean doesn’t think so. He committed a grave error of judgment. He regrets his words, I regret his words. He said that the majority of immigrants don’t work or don’t speak French, that’s not true,” François Legault reacted in a press conference.
These comments provoked the outrage of Liberal candidate Isabelle Melançon, who called them “unacceptable”.
“These prejudices do NOT agree THAT much with what I am telling you on the ground in Verdun. It’s unfortunate to see the outgoing Labor Secretary think so,” she noted.
Invalid comments!
These prejudices do NOT agree THAT much with what I am telling you on the ground in Verdun. It is unfortunate that the outgoing Secretary of Labor thinks so.#polqc2022 #qc2022 https://t.co/hPXHzuTG7K— Isabelle Melançon (@Isamelancon) September 28, 2022
“What have you been doing since 2018? You’re the outgoing Minister of Immigration, your government even ran a score test. Instead of spreading your prejudices, tell us about your record on regionalization,” added Liberal candidate in Nelligan, Monsef Derraji.
Against his will, Jean Boulet addressed the topic of regionalization and franking in the debate on September 21, immediately after his now controversial statement.
“We have set up nine regional directorates (…). These are people who do integration, who support immigrants individually so that they can integrate well into the community and the workplace in a harmonious way,” he said at the time.
“Francization, we’ve doubled budgets for franking and it’s happening everywhere. With Bill 96, we created a one-stop shop called Francization Québec that will simplify the process and provide cheap access,” the minister added.