CIMM – Francophone Immigration Outside Quebec – November 29, 2022

Key Messages

• The Government recognizes that immigration plays an important role in supporting the vitality of Francophone minority communities across the country and is a contributing factor to the demographic weight of these communities.
• In 2019, IRCC announced a comprehensive Francophone Immigration Strategy that aims to reach a 4.4% target of French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec by 2023. This target was established in consultation with community stakeholders.
• The Strategy has yielded increases in French-speaking immigration admissions outside Quebec:

• Several measures have been put in place to support Francophone immigration, including the introduction of additional points allocated to French-speaking and bilingual candidates under the Express Entry system in 2020, the time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway in 2021, and improved promotional activities in Canada and abroad, including Destination Canada Mobility Forum. Recent legislative changes to increase flexibility in selection tools under Express Entry (expected to be operational by spring 2023) may also support Francophone immigration following public consultations to be held this fall. On November 10th, a new Centre for Innovation on Francophone Immigration in Dieppe, NB was announced. Also, IRCC has initiated work on a new Francophone immigration policy in collaboration with Francophone community stakeholders.
• IRCC’s Anti-Racism priorities will be top of mind when considering how best to support francophone immigration.
• The resumption of overseas processing early in 2022 has also contributed to increasing Francophone admissions. IRCC is closely monitoring progress towards the target of 4.4%, and is currently on track to reach it by the 2023 deadline.

Supplementary Messages

Settlement And Integration

• In 2019, IRCC implemented the Francophone Integration Pathway, which funds tailored services for French-speaking newcomers from pre-arrival to citizenship. It also ensures that newcomers, of all linguistic backgrounds, are aware of these services and the possibilities to settle in French outside Quebec.
• The Francophone Integration Pathway is implemented by Francophone organizations in alignment with the “by and for Francophones” approach, with the aim of supporting the vitality of Francophone minority communities.

Promotional Activities

• My Department, with provincial and territorial partners, is pursuing year-round targeted in-person and virtual promotional activities in Canada and abroad, to expand the pool of potential, qualified French-speaking and bilingual candidates.
• From January to September 2022, approximately 400 in-Canada promotional activities involving multiple stakeholders such as employers, community organizations, economic development agencies, as well as universities and colleges, took place. The Department recently completed its annual Tournée de Liaison, an event that brings employers, community stakeholders, and provincial and territorial governments together to learn about the programs and resources available to recruit and retain Francophones outside of Quebec.
• From January to September 2022, IRCC has organized or participated in 200 activities abroad to promote Francophone immigration, including the first recruitment fair dedicated to early childhood French education and teaching. In November 2022, we participated in the Francophonie Summit in Djerba, Tunisia.
• Destination Canada Mobility Forum is the biggest promotion activity held by IRCC and focuses on francophone immigration. The forum was held in November 2022 in Rabat, Morocco and Paris, France, and took place in person, as well as online. This year, IRCC funded the participation of stakeholders from francophone communities across Canada. Additionally, two recruitment fairs will follow to assist employers hiring French-speaking and bilingual workers in the IT and hospitality sectors, two sectors in high demand in Canada.

Supporting Facts And Figures

• From January 2003 to September 2022, more than 85,670 French-speaking immigrants were admitted to Canada outside Quebec, and for the first time, since 2019, a minimum of 5,000 admissions of French-speaking immigrants per year has been reached.
• From January 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022, a total of 11,790 French‑speaking permanent residents were admitted to Canada outside Quebec, including 80% (9,445) via the Economic Category. The top three lines of business that contributed these admissions include the Federal Skilled Workers (26%), Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway (19%), and Provincial/Territorial Nominee Program (enhanced) (29%).
• In 2021, IRCC created a new time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway, which was open to applications from May 6 to November 5, 2021. This included uncapped streams for French-speaking and bilingual essential workers, including those in health care, and recent international graduates from a Canadian institution who were already in Canada and who possessed the skills and experience to support economic growth and recovery. As of September 30, 2022, over 3,400 permanent residents were admitted under the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway dedicated for French speakers.
• Given the large accumulated inventory of French-speaking applicants living abroad due to pandemic-related travel restrictions and a focus on in-Canada processing in 2020 and 2021, projections indicate that the Department is on track to reach the 4.4% target by the 2023 deadline under the current operational plan, representing 15,862 to 19,910 admissions, as per the 2023-2025 Immigration Levels Plan.

Background

IRCC’s 2019 Francophone Immigration Strategy includes a target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec by 2023 (the demographic weight of Francophones outside Quebec as per the 2001 Census). While immigration plays a role in maintaining the demographic weight, a number of factors contributed to its decline, including a low fertility rate and incomplete transmission of French as a mother tongue to the children of French-speaking parents.

In collaboration with provinces and territories, IRCC is advancing the federal/provincial/territorial Action Plan to increase Francophone immigration outside Quebec.

IRCC is developing a methodology to identify the risk of institutional bias and racism within decision-making and risk management for Black and racialized cohorts, which include Haitian and French African populations, and that will provide relevant recommendations to improve program outcomes for the these groups. Under this effort, IRCC will work to improve immigration outcomes for the latter through facilitative processing, expanding existing pathways, and targeted outreach and engagement, as recommended in the CIMM report on Differential Treatment in Recruitment and Acceptance Rates of Foreign Students in Quebec and the Rest of Canada.

Express Entry (EE) plays a significant role in facilitating transitions to permanent residency for Francophone candidates:

• Additional points to candidates with strong French-speaking skills under EE were introduced in June 2017, and further increased in October 2020. The share of invitations issued to these candidates increased from 2.9% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2020, but declined to 3% in 2021 as a result of IRCC targeting invitations to individuals already in Canada due to the pandemic.
• From the launch of EE in 2015 to August 2022, approximately 43% of all Francophone permanent resident admissions outside Quebec were facilitated through EE, with 52% in 2019, 43% in 2021, and 47% (7,855) between January 2021 and August 2022.

Recent changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to increase flexibility in selection tools under EE will allow the Minister to support economic objectives by selecting candidates with specific attributes, such as experience in a specific occupation, official language knowledge, Canadian study experience, or a combination thereof. The Department is assessing and consulting on how to best use the new tool to help meet Canada’s labour market needs, including considering selection based on attributes such as French language skills to support the economic growth of francophone communities outside Quebec.

The Centre for Innovation on Francophone Immigration will be national in scope and will help to make immigration programs more accessible to increase the number of French-speaking candidates selected; better meet the bilingual workforce needs; and, support international promotion efforts to attract and recruit French-speaking candidates in our labour market. IRCC aims to invest $12.9 million over 4 years to establish the Dieppe Centre, then $5.6 million each year beyond that to ensure the implementation of the programming. Note that the investment could be higher depending on the scope of the programming.