Question Period Note: FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRATION TARGET

Increasing Francophone immigration to reach a target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec by 2023

• Ensuring the vitality of Francophone communities outside Quebec is a key priority for our government.

• I would like to thank the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for its study on the 4.4 % target for French-speaking immigrants to Canada outside Quebec.

• The Commissioner’s engagement on Francophone immigration is important. I welcome the recommendations in the study, which will inform our thinking about the Francophone immigration strategy going forward.

• We continue to be committed to meeting the target by 2023.

• Despite the pandemic, my department has continued to advance the Francophone immigration strategy, including targeted measures abroad on promotion and recruitment. We have also put in place dedicated pathways for Francophone temporary residents in Canada (such as, international students) to secure a pathway to permanent residence.

• Achieving a target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec by 2023 is one of the objectives of the Francophone Immigration Strategy.

• Established in 2003, the target is equal to the proportion of Francophones in the Canadian population outside Quebec as per the 2001 Census. According to the 2016 Census, more than 1 million Francophones in Canada were living outside Quebec, representing 3.8% of the population. Unless actions are taken, the proportion could decrease to 3% by 2036. Immigration is one of the elements to address the demographic decline.

• From 2003 to 2020, more than 65,000 French-speaking immigrants were admitted to Canada outside Quebec. French-speaking immigrant admissions represented 2% of all immigrants admitted to Canada outside Quebec from January to July 2021, down from 3.3% from January to July 2020; still far below the 4.4% target.

• Since the 2017 introduction of additional points to French-speakers with strong language skills under Express Entry, an increased share of invitations issued to French-tested candidates under Express Entry has been observed from 2.9% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2020; however, the pandemic had a toll on that trend with a decline to 1.7% from January to July 2021.

• In 2020, 58% of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec were admitted under the Express Entry, making it the most promising tool to increase French-speaking admissions outside Quebec. In October 2020, IRCC increased additional points for language skills from 15 to 25 for French-speaking candidates and from 30 to 50 for bilingual candidates. This change will help deliver on the government’s commitment.

• With regard to the temporary resident to permanent resident pathway, IRCC has received around 7,000 applications from the two streams dedicated to French-speaking essential workers and the stream dedicated to French-speaking, recent international graduates, which accounted for 8% of all applications submitted.

• The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages (OCOL) released a study on the 4.4% target for French-speaking immigrants to Canada (outside Quebec) by 2023 on November 30, 2021. The objective of OCOL's study is to shed light on the target and its impacts of the 4.4% target on maintaining the Francophone demographic weight in Canada. IRCC collaborated with OCOL during the study.

• The study makes three recommendations that are aligned with IRCC’s overall approach, including the Francophone Immigration Strategy.

• Francophone stakeholders are expected to be critical of the Department in light of the study, as they closely monitor the Department’s progress on achieving the target and there is increased attention due to the Government’s intent to modernize the Official Languages Act.

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