Canada and Quebec have a long history of collaborating to advance shared and respective immigration priorities.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) bilateral relationship with Quebec is defined by the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord, and guided by the principle that immigration should support the preservation of Quebec’s demographic weight in Canada and its distinct identity.
The Accord is designed to ensure collaboration between both governments throughout the immigration process in all immigration categories.
Supplementary Messages
Canada-Quebec Accord: Federal grant to Quebec
One of the principles underlying the Canada-Quebec Accord is to preserve Quebec’s demographic weight within Canada and integrate immigrants to the province in a way that recognizes Quebec as a distinct society.
Under the Accord, Quebec assumed all integration services, with an emphasis on providing permanent residents with the means to learn French. The Canadian government withdrew from the delivery of services for the reception and linguistic and cultural integration of permanent residents in Quebec and provides compensation so that Quebec can undertake this responsibility.
Unlike in other provinces and territories, Quebec is responsible for the design, delivery and administration of settlement and integration services for permanent residents, including pre-arrival, information and orientation, French language training, refugee resettlement services, labour market orientation, foreign credential recognition and support services.
Quebec is the only province that receives an annual grant (compensation) from the federal government. In all other provinces and territories, the Department provides annual settlement funding directly to settlement service providers in their respective jurisdictions through a third-party delivery system.
The funding formula is based on the percentage increase in total net federal expenditures and the percentage increase in the number of non-Francophone immigrants who arrive in Quebec compared to the previous year.
Pursuant to the terms of the Canada-Quebec Accord, the grant cannot diminish from one year to the next. It can only increase or remain constant. The amount provided in any given year becomes the baseline for calculating the following year.
Responsive – Federal grant
The amount of the grant payable to Quebec under the Accord is reflected in the Main Estimates every year. The annual increase in the grant is reflected in the Supplementary Estimates (C).
The current value of the grant at the beginning of 2022-2023 was $697.03M.
Supporting Facts And Figures
Grant under the Canada-Quebec Accord
Value of Canada-Quebec Accord Grant for last 5 years
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
Value of Canada-Quebec Accord ($ millions)
378,213
490,253
559,449
591,622
650,270
697,030
Responsive – Scope of Quebec’s authorities
During the most recent election, Premier Legault expressed interest in having greater immigration authorities to protect French vitality in Quebec, such as having the federal government send a larger proportion of French speaking family class applicants to Quebec or by taking full control of the Temporary Foreign Workers Program.
Premier Legault also said that he would examine different ways to pursue the request, either by holding a “sectorial referendum” or a summit on immigration, or by asking to reopen the Accord.
Prime Minister Trudeau indicated in the House of Commons on October 5, 2022, that Quebec has all the authorities and tools it needs to accept more Francophone immigrants should it wish to do so.
Any proposed changes would require further analysis in the context of existing agreements with Quebec as well as existing federal legislation.
Background
Canada-Quebec Accord: roles and responsibilities
The objectives of the Accord are to preserve Quebec’s demographic importance within Canada and support the integration of immigrants to that province, 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 exceed that figure by 5% of the Canadian total for demographic reasons. Quebec has yet to reach this proportion and, for 2022, its levels plan set a target for 12% of all planned arrivals into Canada.
While the Government of Canada is responsible for establishing the total number of immigrants for the country as a whole on an annual basis, it takes into consideration Quebec’s advice on the number of immigrants that it wishes to receive in all classes.
The federal government administers permanent and temporary resident programs. Quebec selects economic immigrants and resettled refugees destined to that province, consents to the admission of temporary residents (i.e., international students and temporary foreign workers who require a labour market impact assessment) and administers family class undertakings (i.e., the sponsor’s financial capacity) for applicants destined to Quebec.
The federal government and Quebec jointly provide a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) to employers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (led by Employment and Social Development Canada for the Government of Canada). Quebec is also responsible for the issuance of the Quebec Acceptance Certificate (or Certificat d’acceptation du Quebec, (CAQ) required for temporary foreign workers who require an LMIA as well as for the applicants in the International Student Program except for those intending to study in the context of a federal assistance program for developing countries.
The Government of Canada remains responsible for determining the admissibility (for health, security, and criminality) of all newcomers to Quebec and for issuing their visas and work or study permits, and granting permanent residence or temporary status to admissible foreign nationals.
Settlement and Integration Services
While Quebec is not accountable to the Government of Canada for how it spends the grant, the Accord requires that Quebec must provide settlement and integration services that are comparable to the rest of the country.
In order to assess whether these services are comparable, Canada and Québec regularly study reception and integration services provided by Canada and Quebec to ensure that similar types of services are available to all permanent residents who settle in Canada and in Quebec.
To fulfill this mandate, since 2014 IRCC and its Quebec counterpart, the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI), have jointly carried out six comparative studies, which consistently concluded that there was an overall high level of alignment of settlement and integration services between Canada and Quebec.
The last comparative study covers the period from April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021, including key changes in settlement services delivery that occurred during the pandemic year, and new indicators to improve comparability across jurisdictions. The study concluded that IRCC had no substantial settlement program changes, despite the pandemic affecting every aspect of the administration and modes of service delivery for settlement services. Both IRCC and MIFI pivoted to virtual platforms and MIFI modified several employment programs, including adding an online Employer Portal and shifting a share of resources to last-resort financial assistance for those who had previously used employment supports.
The last report was tabled at an Assistant Deputy Minister Committee (called the “Comité mixte”) in November 2022.
The grant to Quebec is calculated based on a formula in the Accord, provided as Canada withdrew from settlement services in the province.
In all other provinces and territories outside Quebec, annual settlement funding allocations are determined using the National Settlement Funding Formula, which was established in consultation with the provinces and territories. The Formula is based on the proportion of immigrants landing in each province and territory, giving additional weighting for refugees to account for their unique settlement need, along with a capacity-building amount for each jurisdiction.
