Question Period Note: Quebec Immigration

Canada-Québec Accord and immigration-related issues

• The Government of Canada values its partnership with the Government of Quebec. We continue to collaborate to manage immigration effectively, in accordance with the Canada-Quebec Accord.

• We are committed to work with Quebec on responsible immigration levels that preserve Quebec’s distinct identity, the French language and demographic weight of the province.

If pressed on temporary measure
• The Government of Canada is introducing a new measure under the International Mobility Program for workers already living and working in Quebec and who are supporting our economy.
• Through this measure, eligible workers can get an employer specific work permit that will allow them to keep working for their current employer for up to 12 more months.
• This supports people already living and working in the province as they move toward permanent residence, helping Quebec meet its economic needs by preventing labour shortages in key sectors.

Canada-Quebec Accord: roles and responsibilities

• The objectives of the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord are to preserve Quebec’s demographic weight within Canada and support the integration of immigrants in the province, while respecting its distinct identity.

• Quebec selects economic immigrants and resettled refugees destined to that province and the federal government selects permanent residents in the family class and protected persons. Both governments jointly administer the International Student Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

• 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.

Quebec Immigration Levels Plan

• As established in the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec sets the immigration levels that the province plans to achieve, which the Government of Canada takes into account for the overall Immigration Levels plan.

• Quebec’s Plan for 2026 was released on November 6, 2025. It includes temporary resident targets for the first time. Quebec conducted public consultations on its levels plan throughout the summer. The consultations concluded at the end of October 2025.

• Quebec’s target for non-permanent residents present in the province is 175,000 in 2026. Quebec states this is a decrease of 13% from 2024 volumes. Unlike the federal targets, Quebec’s targets include both new arrivals and extensions:

• Temporary foreign workers: 65,000 for 2026
• Foreign students: 110,000 for 2026

• The Quebec government plans to welcome 45,000 permanent immigrants in 2026.

• Like the federal government, the Quebec government is increasing the share of economic immigration in its plan with an annual target of 28,000.

We continue to engage with Quebec to coordinate the implementation of our respective levels plans.

Temporary workers

Under section 22 of the Canada–Quebec Accord, temporary foreign workers subject to labour market impact assessment requirements must get consent from the Province of Quebec to enter Quebec.

Foreign workers destined for Quebec must get the consent of the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) to enter Quebec and hold a temporary position. This consent takes the form of a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ).

Francophone immigration to Quebec

• Quebec seeks to prioritize francophone immigration, with a stated objective of 100% francophone economic immigration by 2026.
• To support their objectives, Quebec has asked that French language proficiency requirements be added to select temporary worker applicants where they do not have authority to do so themselves. The Department is pursing regulatory changes to its International Mobility Program and seeks to fully implement this requirement by 2028 (aligned with Quebec’s planned implementation timeline).

Asylum Claimants

• Irregular asylum claims have dropped significantly since March 2023, when Canada and the U.S. expanded the application of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) to crossings along the entire Canada-U.S. land border.
• The spikes Quebec saw in land border claims last year was largely limited to the Lacolle port of entry; these spikes were not seen across the province. Quebec saw a decline in volumes in January 2026, with overall asylum claims in the province down 37% when compared to January 2025.
• Land border claims are driven by claims made at the Lacolle Port of Entry mostly by Haitian nationals with family in Canada (enabling them to meet an exception under the STCA). There has not been a commensurate rise in pressures on accommodation requests in Quebec.

• The federal government provided $750M to the Government of Quebec in recognition of the temporary housing and asylum-related challenges caused by irregular border crossings between 2021 and 2024.

• In a letter sent to Minister Diab on October 31, 2025, that has been shared with the media, Minister Jean-François Roberge threatened to reduce access to services (“panier de services”) offered to asylum seekers if the federal government does not reimburse spendings related to claimants, accelerate processing times for claimants and redistribute claimants across Canada. The province’s objective is also to discourage asylum seekers from moving to Quebec.

• Quebec has publicly requested $733M from the Government of Canada for services provided to asylum claimants in 2024 and asked for redistribution of asylum claimants across Canada. The Government of Canada is currently evaluating this request.

• Since 2017, Quebec has received $1.1B (inclusive of the $750M payment above) in response to increasing numbers of asylum claimants in the province.

• The demand for shelter space by asylum claimants remains low in Quebec. As of October 2, PRAIDA (the Regional Program for the Settlement and Integration of Asylum Seekers in Quebec) has an occupancy of approximately 34%.

• Canada cannot cap the number of asylum claims. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), all foreign nationals may seek refugee protection upon their arrival at any official Port of Entry (POE) or at an IRCC inland office.

• Measures have been taken to reduce the total number of temporary residents in Canada and strengthen the integrity of our temporary immigration and asylum programs.

Resettled Refugees:

• Quebec sets its own levels for Government Assisted Refugees (GAR), and is responsible for providing resettlement supports to those individuals. The Canada-Quebec Accord commits Quebec to receiving a proportionate number of resettled refugees based on its share of Canada’s population. However, consistent with previous years, Quebec’s 2026 GAR levels have been set lower than stipulated under the Accord, at 400 to 500 GAR admissions.

• The privately sponsored refugee program (PSR) has been suspended in Québec since 2025 and will be for 2026.

Family reunification

• Family reunification is an important part of Canada's immigration system. We understand that families should be together, and we remain committed to working with the province to support family reunification.

• Under the Canada–Quebec Accord, the Province of Quebec sets the immigration levels for family class. The number of admissions is limited to the number of spaces set by Quebec for the year, which the Government of Canada takes into account when planning the overall immigration levels plan.

• Since admissions to Quebec are limited to the number of spaces set by Quebec in any given year, it results in longer processing times in Quebec than for other regions, due to demand being greater than available level space.

• To maintain transparency and to best manage client expectations around processing times, IRCC publishes information about Quebec’s processing times separately from the data of other provinces and territories.

If pressed on asylum volumes or threats to reduce services offered by Quebec to claimants
• We appreciate the support Quebec continues to provide to asylum claimants in their province.
• To support the integration of newcomers and asylum claimants in the province, the federal government has transferred over $7 billion in the past 10 years to Quebec under the Canada-Quebec Accord, the Interim Housing Assistance Program and one-time payments.
• Quebec saw a decline in volumes in 2025, with overall asylum claims in the province down 32% when compared to 2024.
• We continue to engage with the government and to monitor volumes attentively.
• We have introduced legislation (C-12) that aims to further strengthen the in-Canada asylum system.