Question Period Note: QUEBEC IMMIGRATION

Canada-Quebec relationship on immigration matters

PROPOSED RESPONSE:
• The governments of Canada and Quebec recognize the important role that immigration plays in building prosperous communities.
• We are pleased to work hand-in-hand on immigration with the Government of Quebec to ensure that immigration continues to contribute to Quebec’s economy, and to its recovery from the effects of the pandemic.
Responsive – Post Graduate Work Program
• Quebec recently made the request to update post-graduation work permit eligibility in the province, restricting eligibility to graduates of private institutions who are enrolled in publicly-subsidized programs of study only. IRCC has agreed to the changes they proposed.
• This change will improve the integrity of the program and align Quebec’s private institutions more closely with private institutions across the country.
• These changes will take effect on September 1, 2023. Starting at that time, international students enrolling at private institutions that have no publicly-subsidized programs will no longer be eligible for the PGWP at all, while students at private institutions that have some publicly-funded programs may continue to be eligible for the PGWP if they are enrolling in one of those programs.

Responsive – Temporary Foreign Workers:
• Canada has been working closely with Quebec to address labour market needs by welcoming more workers and making it easier for them to gain valuable experience.
• Now open to applications, the “International Mobility Program (IMP) +”, will allow foreign nationals to apply for a province-restricted open work permit and arrive faster in Quebec - before submitting their application for permanent residence to IRCC. This will help respond to regional labour shortages in Quebec and address Quebec’s desire to create a temporary to permanent residence pathway for these skilled workers.
• These new measures will allow future permanent residents to move to Quebec right away and begin working and settling into their new home. With a province-restricted open work permit, newcomers will have the flexibility to grow their careers and gain new work experiences in Quebec.
Responsive – Processing Times: Permanent residents
• In 2021, IRCC reached 50,200 admissions in Quebec, exceeding Quebec’s published target of 46,000, and fell only 1,300 short of meeting the additional amount of 7,000 added by Quebec to redress the shortfall from 2020.
• IRCC adapted to the challenges posed by the pandemic by investing in and implementing new processes for receiving and processing applications (i.e. digital receipt and scanning of applications) and targeting and processing clients residing in Canada to support the level targets.
• In light of travel restrictions in 2020 and 2021, IRCC worked closely with Quebec to prioritize applications for permanent residence from individuals already living in Canada.
• For 2022, IRCC is focusing on finalizing the aged inventory of permanent resident applicants living outside of Canada.
• IRCC is moving in the right direction and we will be able to start 2023 with a significantly reduced inventory, given the high admissions target established by Quebec for 2022.
Responsive – International Students from Francophone African countries
• IRCC is committed to address the low visa issuance and study permit rates from French speaking countries in Africa and elsewhere to support Quebec’s Immigration Plan for 2022 and Canada’s competitive edge in the world.
• In 2019, both Morocco and Senegal were added to the Student Direct Stream, an expedited processing stream for study permits. Applicants receive faster processing if they submit additional documents in advance with their study permit application.
Responsive – Family Reunification
• I am aware that Quebec has indicated an interest in selecting family members who intend to immigrate there.
• Any proposed changes requires further analysis in the context of existing agreements with Quebec and our national immigration framework.

BACKGROUND:
Canada-Quebec Accord: roles and responsibilities
• The Canada-Quebec Accord came into force in 1991. The objectives of the Accord are to preserve Quebec’s demographic weight within Canada and support the integration of immigrants, while respecting its distinct identity. To this end, Quebec can receive a percentage of all immigrants coming to Canada equal to the percentage of its demographic weight in Canada (currently 22%), and can select certain classes of immigrants destined to the province. The overall share of immigrants to Quebec in 2022 is expected to be approximately 12%, based on the targets in the province’s levels plan.
• Quebec selects economic immigrants and resettled refugees destined to that province and the federal government selects permanent resident in the family class and protected persons. Both governments jointly administer the International Student and Temporary Foreign Worker programs.
• The federal government remains responsible for determining the admissibility (i.e., health, security, and criminality) of all immigrants to Quebec and for issuing permanent resident visas.
• While the federal government is responsible for establishing annually the total number of immigrants for the country as a whole, it takes Quebec’s advice into consideration on the number of immigrants that it wishes to receive.
• The Accord requires agreement of both parties to amend.
Funding under the Canada-Quebec Accord
• As part of the Accord, the federal government provides an annual grant to Quebec, which notionally supports the delivery of settlement and integration services in the province.
• Quebec received approximately $650 million under the Accord in 2020-2021, a $58 million increase compared to 2019-2020, as a result of the funding formula in the Accord. For 2021-22 the amount is $697 million.
• The funding formula in the Accord is based on two factors: the variation in total federal expenditures (i.e., federal spending) and the variation in the number of non-French speaking immigrants admitted to Quebec.
• Funding is not tied to the total number of newcomers entering Quebec in any given year.
• The grant can never decrease, since the amount established in the previous year becomes the baseline for the next year. The amount of the grant is not directly linked to provincial immigrant intake.
• While Quebec is not accountable to the federal government for how it spends the grant it receives under the Accord, Quebec must provide settlement and integration services that are comparable to the rest of the country.
• From 2013-2014 to 2018-2019, five comparative studies of settlement and integration services were conducted and consistently concluded that there was an overall high level of alignment of services between Canada and Quebec. The last comparative study covers the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, including key changes that occurred during the pandemic year. The report is expected to be tabled in winter 2022.
Bill 9 and changes to Quebec immigration regime
• In June 2019, the Government of Quebec adopted Bill 9, which laid the legislative groundwork for revamping its immigration system, allowing for the imposition of conditions on foreign nationals in order to be selected for immigration to Quebec (for example, French language proficiency and knowledge of Quebec values).
• With this new legislative framework, Quebec wanted to ensure a better alignment between immigration selection and labour market needs, and improve integration outcomes. In order to achieve this, Quebec temporarily reduced its immigration levels and expanded its settlement services, including French language training, to temporary foreign workers to eventually qualify them for permanent residence.
• In November 2019, Quebec tabled regulatory changes to support the implementation of the Quebec values test, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. This change applies to economic immigrants only, and falls within Quebec’s authority.
• In July 2020, regulatory changes to Quebec’s in-Canada selection program for economic immigrants, the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ) came into effect. Among the key changes to this program, Quebec now requires:
o international students to have full-time work experience (12 months for university and college graduates, 18 months for professional studies graduates) to be eligible to the PEQ;
o temporary foreign workers to have held full-time employment in Quebec for at least 24 of the last 36 months preceding the submission of their application in a higher-skilled occupation; and to hold such a position at the time of their application.
2022 Immigration Levels Plan
• On October 28, 2021, Quebec tabled its 2022 immigration levels plan. Quebec’s immigration levels targets are incorporated into the federal levels plan.
• The pandemic has had a significant impact on the delivery of Quebec’s immigration plan for 2020 and 2021, similar to the federal plan. Quebec’s 2020 and 2021 shortfalls have been carried over in addition to the 2022 original targets set by the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI).
• The maximum in the overall admission range in Quebec’s levels plan including carry-over is 70,500.
• Quebec 2022 immigration levels plan admission ranges in the main immigration categories are as follows:
o Economic: 32,000 – 33,900 (+12,700 in carry-over from 2021, for a maximum range of 46,600) (37.5% increase over 2021)
o Family Class: 10,200 – 10,600 (+1,000 in carry-over from 2021, for a maximum range of 11 600) (1.3% decrease over 2021)
o Refugees: 6,900 – 7,500 (+1,500 in carry-over from 2020, for a maximum range of 9,000) (7.78% increase over 2021)
o Other (public policies): 400 – 500 (+2,800 increase for Guardian Angels)
• For 2022, 66% of Quebec’s overall immigration levels is economic immigration, compared to 56.6% in 2022 at the federal level.
Processing delays
• Processing times for Quebec-destined applications prior to the pandemic were already long due to a mismatch between the number of applicants Quebec selects for immigration to the province and the levels space it provides to IRCC to complete the applications.
• These processing times have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic by Visa Application Centre (VAC) closures and the need to digitize applications. Practically all Quebec-destined applications pre-pandemic were paper-based. However, this is now shifting with new digital application channels available as well as digitization efforts to convert existing paper applications.
Asylum Seekers
• Quebec is a dependable partner in the management of irregular migration flows and providing temporary housing, social services and education to asylum seekers.
• Between 2017 and 2019, more than 85,000 asylum seekers made a claim in Quebec (50,000 between ports of entry, and 35,000 at official land and air ports of entry). It is estimated that 60% of these asylum seekers remained in the province.
• Quebec was the province most directly affected by asylum claims between designated ports of entry prior to border closures due to COVID-19. Since 2017, 95% of arrivals between ports of entry have been intercepted in Quebec.
• Quebec has seen a significant increase of asylum claims made by claimants arriving between ports of entry since the lifting of the direct back arrangement on November 21, 2021.
• Consequently, IRCC has increased its housing capacity in the Greater Montreal Area in order to provide temporary accommodations and support services to unvaccinated asylum claimants who do not have a suitable place to quarantine.
• Officials from both departments are meeting frequently to discuss contingency planning and asylum claim updates.
• In 2019, the federal government provided $250 million in compensation to Quebec for costs incurred by the province in 2017 and 2018 to provide services to asylum claimants.
• In late March 2021, the federal government provided $94 million in compensation for interim housing costs incurred by the province in 2019 and $30 million for 2020, for a total of $374 million for 2017-2020 arrivals.
Afghan refugee resettlement
• IRCC and the Quebec government have been engaging regularly at the ADM and working levels to exchange information and provide advance notice of policy, settlement and operational issues.
• Quebec is supportive of current policies to resettle Afghan refugees and had agreed to welcome Afghan refugees within the parameters of its 2022 levels plan.
• Quebec 2022 immigration levels plan admission ranges for overall Government Assisted Refugee is 1,650-1700 (+200 in carry-over from 2020 and 2021, for a maximum range of 1,900).
• In 2021, IRCC had challenges in identifying Afghan refugees willing to settle in Quebec. A possible explanation is that refugees choose their final destination based on ties and linkages and only a very small number of Afghan people currently reside in Quebec. Additionally, Afghan refugees are more likely to speak English than French.
Guardian Angels
• The Guardian Angels pathway to permanent residence was put in place to recognize the extraordinary contribution of refugee claimants providing direct patient care in Canada’s healthcare sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Given shared immigration jurisdiction under the Canada-Quebec Accord and the need to waive certain inadmissibility criteria, the Department and Quebec worked in close collaboration to develop two temporary public policies – one for refugee claimants wishing to reside outside Quebec, and the other for refugee claimants intending to reside in Quebec.
Temporary Foreign Workers
Canada is moving forward with issuing work permits to foreign nationals selected for permanent residence by Quebec. Now open to applications, the “International Mobility Program (IMP) +”, will allow foreign nationals to apply for an open work permit and work for nearly any employer in Quebec, before submitting their application for permanent residence to IRCC.

These new measures will allow future permanent residents to move to Quebec right away and begin working and settling into their new home. With a province-restricted open work permit, newcomers will have the flexibility to move quickly between positions in Quebec to grow their careers and gain new work experiences.
To qualify for a province-restricted open work permit, a foreign national must:
• be living outside of Quebec;
• hold a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) that proves they have been selected for permanent residence by Quebec;
• have received an IMP+ letter of invitation from Quebec’s Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) and
• submit a complete application for a work permit, including applicable fees.
IMP+ will be subject to an application intake cap of 14,700 in 2022, reflecting that those who received CSQs over the past few years may be eligible. Starting in 2023, the annual application intake cap will be set at 7,350 per year.
Study permit processing of Indian students destined to Quebec
• In November 2020, three international student recruiters were indicted and charged with fraud forgery and breach of trust by Quebec’s Unité permanent anticorruption (UPAC). They are alleged to have falsified documents to attract international students, particularly from India.
• Following the indictment and charges, in December 2020, Quebec paused the processing of “Certificats d’acceptation du Québec” (CAQ) applications from international students destined to ten designated learning institutions (DLIs).
• In January 2021, further to a Court ruling, the province resumed accepting and processing of CAQs for study permits associated with these colleges.
• IRCC continues to process applications from foreign nationals who applied for study permits related to the ten learning institutions associated with alleged unethical student recruiters.
• Each application is carefully assessed on its merits and additional checks and verifications may be necessary to ensure the application is legitimate, before a final decision is made, resulting in slower processing.
• Recently, three of the ten designated learning institutions in question filed for creditor protection. The Department will determine what action, if any action, may be needed. Education is a provincial responsibility, and IRCC is prepared to work with the Government of Quebec on the issue.
Family reunification
• Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Canada has sole responsibility for the selection and admission of family class immigrants. Quebec, however, has the authority to determine and assess the financial criteria for family class sponsorship agreements.
• The authority to define who is eligible to immigrate to Canada in the family class has been kept at the national level to ensure that parameters remain the same across the country. If requirements were less generous in one part of Canada than another (e.g. imposing a language requirement for those destined to Quebec), family class sponsors would easily be able to circumvent the more stringent requirements by temporarily relocating to another province.
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ADDITIONAL MESSAGING
Responsive – Asylum Seekers
• On November 21, 2021, the prohibition on entering Canada from the U.S. between land ports of entry for the purposes of making an asylum claim ended.
• The majority of asylum claimants entering Canada between designated ports of entry have been intercepted in Quebec, prior to border closures due to COVID-19 and following the border reopening on November 21, 2021.
• The Government of Canada has put in place contingency plans to manage volumes at the border and provides temporary accommodations and support services to asylum claimants who do not have a suitable quarantine plan.
• Quebec is a key partner in managing the flow of irregular migrants and in providing temporary housing, social services and education to asylum seekers.
Interim Housing Assistance Program (IHAP)
• Between 2017 and 2020, the Federal Government provided $374 million in compensation to Quebec for costs incurred by the province to provide interim housing related services to asylum claimants.
• The program was renewed until March 31, 2022 to assist provinces, including Quebec, that have been affected by the increased volumes of asylum claimants we have seen over the past few months.
Responsive – Reported allegations of unethical recruitment of Indian students destined to Quebec
• The federal government recognizes that international students provide tremendous social, cultural and economic benefits to campuses and communities across Canada.
• I am aware that in November 2020, three international student recruiters were investigated, indicted and charged with fraud, forgery and breach of trust by Quebec’s Unité permanent anticorruption (UPAC). They are alleged to have falsified documents to attract international students, particularly from India.
• Following the indictment and charges, in December 2020, Quebec paused the processing of “Certificats d’acceptation du Québec” (CAQ) applications from international students destined to ten designated learning institutions (DLIs).
• In January 2021, further to a Court ruling, the province resumed accepting and processing of CAQs for study permits associated with these colleges.
• IRCC continues to process applications from foreign nationals who applied for study permits related to the ten learning institutions associated with alleged unethical student recruiters.
• IRCC is monitoring the situation regarding three colleges in Quebec that filed for creditor protection. The Department will determine what action, if any, may be needed.
• Each application is carefully assessed on its merits, and additional checks and verifications may be necessary to ensure the application is legitimate, before a final decision is made.