ARCHIVED – An annotated bibliography of francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada
Government Documents
CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada), 2006, Services to Immigrants in New Brunswick: Evaluation Report, Government of Canada, December.
Objective of the document: This study of settlement services assesses whether the existing services actually help immigrants become established. The authors are seeking to “establish a link between settlement services and their results”.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: While this report does not focus specifically on the Francophone aspect of immigration, it is relevant because it addresses immigration to New Brunswick.
Abstract: To determine the effectiveness of the services offered, the researchers decided on a results-based approach. First, they assessed the results with respect to the service providers: reactions of immigrants to settlement activities (activities related to employment, reception, etc.), the use of the available services, how well they understood new situations, and conflict and problem resolution. Second, they observed the results with respect to the immigrants: the effects of the services on their behaviours, their physical state, finding employment, etc. The data gathered during the interviews were analyzed using settlement and integration indicators— language, education and training, participation in the labour force and access to employment, access to health services, participation in community life, and adaptation to the Canadian lifestyle and financial independence.
According to the authors, the results show that those immigrants who use the services of CIC and its partners are very satisfied, even though there is still a great deal of room for improvement. It seems that the programs are being used and that they improve the quality of life of newcomers, particularly with respect to language training. Still, the report lists a series of recommendations, primarily with respect to the clarity of service-delivery standards, the strengthening of federal-provincial consultations, and greater accessibility of CIC officers. The authors also recommend that immigrants to rural areas not be overlooked and that awareness-raising programs be implemented to educate the host population to the realities faced by immigrants.
Methodology: Interviews with 140 immigrant families that have been in Canada for five years or less, 23 host sponsors, 3 settlement services providers and 11 host families (the proportion of Francophones among these respondents was not specified). During the interviews, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, participants answered a questionnaire administered by the interviewer. The questionnaires are appended to the report.
Key words: Immigrant services.
OCOL (Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages), 2002, Immigration and the Vitality of Canada’s Official Language Communities: Policy, Demography and Identity, Jack Jedwab, Ottawa, 88 p.
Objective: This report makes public the recommendations of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages regarding the integration of French-speaking immigrants into the country, in the following areas: policies and principles, recruitment and promotion, and settlement and integration. The author notes the degree to which immigration affects the development and the vitality of Francophone minority communities. The goal of an improved management of immigration is to foster the development and vitality of the official-language communities.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: The document does not specifically address Atlantic Canada, but looks instead at all of Canada. In fact, it focuses on all official-language communities, and also includes the Anglophone communities of Quebec. One can assume that the recommendations are aimed equally at communities in the Atlantic provinces as well as those in the rest of Canada.
Abstract: Given the vital contributions made by immigration to the demographic development of Canada, the author focuses particularly on its importance in Francophone communities outside Quebec, where immigration appears not to favour the Francophone population. Jedwab begins by looking at Canadian policies in the areas of official languages and immigration, and then paints a picture of the Canadian Francophonie. He makes three key recommendations: the federal government needs to adopt an integrated approach, in partnership with the affected communities, in order to develop measures intended to increase the demographic weight of the Francophone communities; there needs to be increased recruitment of French-speaking immigrants; and the communities need to be able to count on federal government support in welcoming immigrants and integrating them into the host society.
OCOL (Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages), 2002, Official Languages and Immigration: Obstacles and Opportunities for Immigrants and Communities, by Carsten Quell, Canada, November, 74 p.
Objective: This study, aimed at both immigrants and official-language minority communities and government officials, is intended primarily to provide a more in-depth picture of the actual experiences of immigrants as they settle into their new communities. The ultimate objectives are to sensitize the general population to the realities faced by newcomers in minority communities and to propose measures that will attract, retain and integrate greater numbers of immigrants.
Relevance to the topic of immigration to Atlantic Canada: The document does not pay any special attention to the situation in Atlantic Canada, but Francophone immigration is the central theme of the study.
Abstract: The publication offers a brief overview of immigration policies and a demographic picture of immigration. The report is illustrated with numerous actual experiences of immigrants who have settled in Canada, and a description of organizations working to help them integrate. After analyzing these actual experiences, the author focuses primarily on the need to improve the integration of immigrants into minority communities. Considering French a common denominator among the newcomers and their host community, Quell underlines the contributions that Francophone immigration could make to the vitality of official-language communities and to the maintenance of linguistic duality throughout the country.
Methodology: The study is based on interviews with some sixty immigrants.
Key words : Public policies and strategies; immigrant services.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee (CIC-FMC Steering Committee), 2003, Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities, Ottawa, Government of Canada.
Objective: This document presents the strategic framework put forward by the CIC-FMC Steering Committee to increase the number of French-speaking immigrants to Francophone minority communities, and to improve their reception and integration.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: While the document does not concern only the Atlantic provinces, it is relevant to the extent of those situations where Francophone immigration is the central topic and the Francophone communities of Atlantic Canada are mentioned.
Abstract: The proposed strategic framework has five objectives:
(1) increase the number of French-speaking immigrants to give greater demographic weight to Francophone minority communities; (2) improve capacity and strengthen reception and settlement infrastructures; (3) ensure economic and also (4) social and cultural integration of Francophone immigrants; and (5) foster regionalization of Francophone immigration outside the larger centres (Vancouver and Toronto). The CIC-FMC Steering Committee emphasizes the importance of the roles played by each actor, that is, the Francophone communities, CIC, government partners such as Canadian Heritage, provincial governments and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, as well as the FCFA.
The report then goes on to present a series of recommendations, categorized as follows: Implementation, Evaluation Mechanism and Follow-up Mechanism for the Strategic Framework. It suggests that the measures begin in 2005, the year in which the federal government was to evaluate the financial resources allocated to municipalities. In addition, it recommends that action plans be evaluated after three years and adjusted where necessary. In closing, the report recommends that a national infrastructure be put into place over the long term to ensure that action plans are followed up and evaluated.
Key words : Public policies and strategies.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee (CIC-FMC Steering Committee), 2005, Towards Building a Canadian Francophonie of Tomorrow: Summary of Initiatives 2002-2006 to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities.
Objective: The purpose of this document is to highlight some of the initiatives flowing from the five objectives of the CIC-FMC Steering Committee’s Strategic Framework. The initiatives are part of the national, provincial or territorial action plans in Francophone minority communities.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: Francophone immigration is the central theme of the publication, and while it does not deal exclusively with Atlantic Canada, there is a description of some of the actions carried out in those provinces.
Abstract: The initiatives are presented according to the five objectives of the Strategic Framework, that is, (1) increase the number of French-speaking immigrants; (2) improve the reception capacity of the municipalities; (3) ensure the economic and (4) social and cultural integration of immigrants, and (5) foster the regionalization of immigration. Among the initiatives mentioned, a number of them were carried out in Atlantic Canada—an inventory of the resources needed to recruit more French-speaking immigrants to New Brunswick; studies on the needs and reception capacities of the Francophone communities of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador; the addition of language clauses to the Provincial Nominee Program in order to foster Francophone immigration to Nova Scotia, as well as a study on the reception capacity for French-speaking refugee students at the universities of Moncton and Ste-Anne.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee (CIC-FMC Steering Committee), 2006, Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities, Ottawa, Government of Canada, 27 p.
Objective: The Strategic Plan is intended to facilitate the ongoing implementation of the objectives contained in the Strategic Framework (CIC-FMC Steering Committee, 2003) and the federal government’s Action Plan for Official Languages. This is a long-term plan to develop immigration in Francophone minority communities, and at the same time facilitate the reception and the economic, social and cultural integration of newcomers.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: The document does not specifically mention Atlantic Canada, but the actions presented are relevant and relate directly to Francophone immigration.
Abstract: To begin with, the five-year Strategic Plan repeats the five objectives of the Steering Committee, namely (1) increase the number of French-speaking immigrants in order to bolster the populations of Francophone communities; (2) improve the reception capacity of communities; (3) ensure the economic, but also (4) social and cultural integration of French-speaking immigrants, and (5) foster the regionalization of Francophone immigration. The authors describe the primary difficulties faced by Francophone communities in the area of immigration (lack of recruitment and reception capacity, integration difficulties, immigrant mobility, etc.) and then present a number of strategic choices that could resolve the situation, or at least bring a measure of improvement. Recommendations include relying on the retention of foreign students, adopting a targeted approach, both in the choice of communities and in the choice of immigrants, and facilitating the employability of foreign workers.
Key words : Public policies and strategies.
SCOL (Standing Committee on Official Languages), 2003, Immigration as a Tool for the Development of Official Language Minority Communities, a report by the Standing Committee on Official Languages, Canada, 40 p.
Objective: This report presents the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Official Languages for increasing immigration (and improving the integration of immigrants) in Francophone communities outside Quebec.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: The report does not apply specifically to Atlantic Canada; it applies to all Francophone minority communities in Canada outside Quebec, but the findings and recommendations are nevertheless relevant.
Abstract: The most important finding gained from this study is that Francophone minority communities do not receive a sufficient proportion of French-speaking immigrants to ensure their demographic vitality. The publication, which is intended to be the logical continuation of the Committee’s previous report (OCOL, 2002), describes the same immigration process, divided into four phases—the promotion and selection of immigrants abroad, settlement in the host country, adaptation to the community, and integration/contribution to the chosen community. The authors are of the opinion that immigrants are not given adequate information during the promotion and selection phase abroad: Quebec was presented as the only French-speaking area of Canada. They recommend, therefore, among other things, that the promotion of Francophone communities outside Quebec be strengthened. Eventually, the adaptation phase will occur primarily through insertion into the labour market and acquisition of the official languages. In addition, the Committee targets some of the key actors that need to become involved in the Immigration file, specifically the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Human Resources Development Canada, and especially the Francophone communities themselves, who should take ownership of this project.
Methodology: Literature review, analysis of documents and public consultations.
Key words : Public policies and strategies.
NEW BRUNSWICK, Be Our Future: New Brunswick’s Population Growth Strategy, February 2008, 25 p.
Objective of the publication: This document presents New Brunswick’s population growth strategy, developed by the Population Growth Secretariat, covering the next five years.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: Because immigration is one of the strategies New Brunswick is counting most heavily on to increase its population, the publication devotes an entire section to it. A number of paragraphs deal more specifically with Francophone immigration.
Abstract: The government of New Brunswick is intent on addressing the province’s population decline with its Population Growth Strategy, a five-year plan developed by the Population Growth Secretariat. The plan is being implemented in six key areas: increasing and targeting immigration, increasing settlement, promoting diversity and multiculturalism, retaining youth and repatriating former New Brunswickers, and adopting family-friendly policies. Public consultations revealed that there needs to be an emphasis on the entrepreneurial potential and the province’s distinct linguistic profile.
With respect to immigration, New Brunswick would like to increase the number of newcomers and improve settlement services in an attempt to improve retention. The Strategy is based on the New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program (PNP), which has a goal of recruiting skilled workers or entrepreneurs. New Brunswick is partnering with local employers (under the PNP) and with the local population (through the community sponsorship program). In addition, the plan focuses specially on immigration to Francophone and rural communities by inviting the municipalities concerned to become actively involved in recruiting and retaining immigrants. The provincial government also intends to invest in settlement agencies in order to improve the integration of newcomers.
Methodology: The strategy is based on public consultations: public meetings in nine communities to receive individual comments and briefs.
Key words : Public policies and strategies; immigrant services; municipalities.
NOVA SCOTIA OFFICE OF IMMIGRATION, 2004, Nova Scotia’s Immigration Strategy, 40 p.
Objective: This document describes Nova Scotia’s new immigration strategy. The province would like to stimulate immigration in order to curb the population decline and kick start the economy.
Relevance to the topic of Francophone immigration to Atlantic Canada: In view of the small number of papers that address Nova Scotia, this publication is relevant to the topic, even though it does not deal essentially with Francophone immigration.
Abstract: Nova Scotia’s quantitative immigration objectives include the following: retain 70% of immigrants settling in the province and attract 3,600 new immigrants annually. In order to achieve these goals, the government must ensure that newcomers are properly integrated, so that they can participate actively in the province’s economic development. The province would also like to achieve a balance in immigrants from the various classes (economic, family and humanitarian). This five-year plan is to be implemented by the Nova Scotia government, but it is counting on support from the public and from the corporate sector. In addition, the strategy provides for a partnership with the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse (FANE) in order to ensure promotion of the Francophone community and Francophone immigration.
Methodology: Forty-five consultations were held in all parts of the province following publication of the Strategic Framework for Immigration. The consultations brought together business and community leaders, as well as representatives from the public, private and volunteer sectors.
Key words: immigrant services.
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