(Ottawa) With an already low target of 4% Francophone immigrants that the federal government fails to meet year after year, it’s high time for Ottawa to raise the bar and revise that target upwards, believes the new Minister for Canada Relationships and Canadian Francophonie, Jean-François Roberge.
Posted yesterday at 5:00am
The Trudeau government announced last month that Canada plans to take in a record 500,000 new arrivals per year, beginning in 2025. Of this number, it has set itself the target of welcoming 4% French-speaking immigrants. According to Mr. Roberge, this goal is downright “inadequate” to ensure the vitality of francophone communities in minority environments and counteract the decline of French in Canada.
Ottawa has never been able to achieve this goal in the past. There is therefore a significant delay in casting, Mr Roberge argued in an interview with La Presse. According to him, the Trudeau government must instead set “a compensation threshold” of 12 to 20 percent for French-speaking immigrants.
“No one will be satisfied with reaching the 4 percent target. Quebec will not be satisfied if the federal government achieves its insufficient target. It’s a bad target. Hitting the wrong target still failed,” said Mr. Roberge bluntly.
The 4% target is too low. It’s been too low for too long. And on top of that, the federal government is missing a target that is too low. This means that lag has accumulated over the years. He has a moral obligation to catch up.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister for Canadian Relations and Canadian Francophonie
Mr. Roberge, who was in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday to meet his federal counterpart, Minister for Official Languages Ginette Petitpas-Taylor, unhesitatingly supports a request from the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities, which supports the Trudeau government to repeat its homework on francophone immigration.
“Alarming” statistics
Last month, Secretary of State for Immigration Sean Fraser confirmed that Canada intends to open its doors to immigration more than ever. In the next three years we expect almost 1.5 million immigrants.
In 2023 and 2024, the immigration thresholds will be 465,000 and 485,000 new arrivals, respectively, and 500,000 in 2025. These goals apply to the entire country with the exception of Quebec. In Quebec, the Legault government is currently sticking to a target of 50,000 immigrants per year.
In an interview, Mr. Roberge said the statistics on the decline of French in Quebec and the rest of the country are alarming. All traffic lights are red in Quebec, he repeated, citing the latest data from Statistics Canada. He recalled that in the province of La Belle we are witnessing a decline in French on several fronts – native language, working language, language spoken at home.
If French is going badly in Quebec, well, these are tough times for Francophonie outside of Quebec. And if Canadian Francophonie isn’t doing well, the French in Quebec aren’t doing well either. It is a decline that feeds the other. There are setbacks everywhere at the moment.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister for Canadian Relations and Canadian Francophonie
“This is not only due to migration policy. You have to be careful. It’s certainly not the fault of the immigrants themselves. I don’t blame immigrants. But we need an immigration policy that allows us to correct the mistakes that have been made. It is time for the federal government to change the situation,” he added.
Foreign French-speaking students excluded
Mr. Roberge said he discussed those files with Justin Trudeau’s political lieutenant in Quebec, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, and with Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
A gesture that could be made quickly concerns foreign French-speaking students. “The first sign of good faith would be to change, without delay, the procedure leading to the granting of residence permits to French-speaking foreign students in the coming weeks. There is a flaw in the forms that excludes tens of thousands of foreign French-speaking students when asked if they are thinking of staying in the country. For Quebec alone, 20,000 foreign francophone students are excluded. It’s huge,” he said.
Mr. Roberge also called on the Trudeau government to amend Bill C-13 to modernize the Official Languages Act. “This law, as it is now, is unacceptable to Quebec,” he said.
In his opinion, it is essential to include an “asymmetric” approach that prioritizes the protection of French in both Quebec and the rest of the country. “C-13 puts minority language communities on an equal footing. This means that we are concerned about Anglophones in Quebec because they are a minority. I’m sorry but that’s nonsense. French is a minority language across Canada and although it is the majority language in Quebec, it is under threat there. That’s not what Jean-François Roberge says. It’s Statistics Canada. »