LANG - Opening Statement for the Honourable Marc Miller, P.C., M.P., Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Standing Committee on Official Languages - October 4, 2023

Francophone Immigration

Ottawa, Ontario

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

551 words (~5 minutes)

Good morning/afternoon. I’m pleased to appear before the Standing Committee on Official Languages for the first time as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

Optional: [We’re meeting today on the traditional and unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin People. We recognize them as the past, present and future caretakers of this land.^{Endnote 1}

Thank you, Mr. Chair,^{Endnote 2} for inviting me to participate in today’s discussion on Francophone immigration.

For years now, we have experienced a concerning demographic decline in French-speaking communities outside Quebec. According to Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, the percentage of Francophones has fallen in all regions across the country, except for the Yukon.

One way to support the vitality of the French language in Canada is to increase Francophone immigration to strengthen the linguistic, demographic and economic fabric of Francophone communities. My department has been spearheading several initiatives to boost Francophone immigration in minority Francophone communities, and we’re already seeing positive results.

In 2022, we reached the target of 4.4% French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec, one year earlier than expected. We are in good shape to maintain the target for this year. However, there is still much work to be done to strengthen French language expression in Canada.

We’re working with our partners, including community stakeholders, to set new targets for the next three years. They will be ambitious, realistic and attainable to meet the challenge of declining Francophone minority communities.

There are other ambitious measures the Government of Canada is taking to protect the French language. This is demonstrated in the recent release of our comprehensive five-year plan: the Action Plan for Official Languages 2023–2028: Protection-Promotion-Collaboration. One of this action plan’s primary pillars is Francophone immigration. It includes seven key initiatives that build on existing measures and introduces new ones, totaling more than $137 million over five years.

We also launched the Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration in Dieppe, New Brunswick, that represents our ambition to further integrate the Francophone perspective into our programs, and to engage Francophone minority communities in selection and promotion efforts.

The modernization of the Official Languages Act, which received Royal Assent in June 2023, recognizes the importance of leveraging immigration to enhance the vitality of Francophone minority communities by working to increase and restore their demographic weight, while highlighting the critical role of the entire federal family to ensure a successful approach to this issue.

With this in mind, we are currently working to develop a Francophone immigration policy that includes new targets for French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Quebec. The changes to the Express Entry system, which allow for a targeted selection of French-speaking candidates, will be crucial to helping us meet our Francophone immigration commitments after 2023.

The new policy will enable us to guide our future actions with respect to Francophone immigration outside Quebec, and will aim to strengthen the vitality of Francophone minority communities in Canada to help maintain or increase their demographic weight.

These initiatives will help cultivate the French language across Canada. Our efforts will enrich the cultures of Francophone communities outside Quebec and help to slow and progressively turn around the troubling trend of a declining Francophone population.

We are continuing to focus on Francophone immigration outside Quebec, which is a key priority for the coming years.

Thank you. I’d be happy to answer questions from the Committee.