OLLO – Francophone Immigration Outside Quebec – February 6, 2023

Key Messages

• The Government recognizes that immigration plays an important role in enhancing the vitality of Francophone minority communities across the country and is a contributing factor to the demographic weight of these communities.
• In 2019, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a comprehensive Francophone Immigration Strategy to reach a 4.4% target of French-speaking immigrant admissions outside Québec by the end of 2023. This target was established in consultation with community stakeholders.
• The Strategy, and the resumption of overseas processing early in 2022, increased French-speaking immigration admissions outside Québec. IRCC achieved the 4.4% target in 2022, one year ahead of the deadline.

* decline due to the pandemic given that French-speaking admissions are mainly from abroad.

• On November 10, 2022, a new national Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration in Dieppe, New Brunswick was announced. The Centre will have a national scope and will contribute to increasing Francophone immigration in Canada
• IRCC has also initiated work on a new Francophone immigration policy in collaboration with Francophone community stakeholders.

Supplementary Messages

New Admissions Target Beyond 2023

• IRCC is working on the development of a new admissions target beyond 2023 that will be both ambitious and attainable, evidence-based, and that will take into consideration stakeholder and expert views, including the study from the Commissioner of Official Languages.

Selection Tools

• 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 and dedicated uncapped Francophone streams under the time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway in 2021. Recent legislative changes to increase flexibility in category-based selection tools under Express Entry (expected to be operational by spring 2023) could also support francophone immigration.

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 Québec^{Footnote 1}.
• 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.
• In 2022, approximately 540 in-Canada promotional activities involving multiple stakeholders such as employers, community and economic development agencies, as well as Universities and Colleges, took place.
• In 2022, IRCC organized or participated in approximately 290 activities abroad to promote Francophone immigration, including the first recruitment fair dedicated to early childhood education and teaching. In November 2022, we participated in the Francophonie Summit in Djerba, Tunisia.
• We supported a delegation of community representatives from across Canada to Destination Canada Mobility Forum, which was held in November 2022 in Rabat, Morocco and Paris, France as well as online. 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 2003 to 2022, more than 90,500 French-speaking immigrants were admitted to Canada outside Québec, and for the first time, since 2019, a minimum of 5,000 admissions of French-speaking immigrants per year has been reached.
• In 2022, a total of 16,370^{Footnote 2} French-speaking permanent residents were admitted to Canada outside Québec, including 80% (13,120) via the Economic Category. The top three lines of business that contributed to these admissions include the Federal Skilled Workers (29%), the Provincial/Territorial Nominees Program (29%), and the Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway (17%).
• 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 recent international graduates from a Canadian institution who were already in Canada and workers in over 130 essential occupations, including in areas such as healthcare, caregiving, agriculture, manufacturing, service industry, trades and transportation. As of December 31, 2022, over 3,700 permanent residents were admitted under the francophone streams of this Pathway.

Background

• IRCC’s 2019 Francophone Immigration Strategy includes a target of 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants outside Québec by 2023 (the demographic weight of Francophones outside Québec as per the 2001 Census). While immigration contributes to maintaining or increasing 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 (FPT) Action Plan to increase Francophone immigration outside Quebec. IRCC has legally-binding bilateral immigration agreements in place with all jurisdictions, except Quebec, which include a commitment to supporting official language minority communities. IRCC negotiated annexes to these bilateral agreements with New Brunswick (2017) and Ontario (2018) to strengthen cooperation to support Francophone immigration.
• The FPT Action Plan allows FPT governments, in collaboration with stakeholders, to improve promotion, selection, settlement, integration, and the retention of French-speaking immigrants within Francophone minority communities outside Quebec.
• Some PTs have put in place specialized streams or other strategies to attract French-speaking newcomers and respond to labour needs. Examples of initiatives and other strategies that build on the Action Plan that some PTs have implemented under their Provincial Nominee Program include: Nova Scotia invites francophone candidates to Express Entry Labour Market Priorities Stream; New Brunswick has made a firm commitment to sustain Francophone immigration and has implemented the Strategic Initiative Stream for French-speaking Immigrants, dedicated exclusively to French-speaking candidates; Ontario introduced and Express Entry French-Speaking Skilled Worker Stream; Manitoba attracts francophone candidates in Skilled Worker & Business Streams; Saskatchewan and BC award extra points to skilled worker candidates with bilingual proficiencies; Northwest Territories launched a Francophone stream.
• Nova Scotia recently launched a new Francophone immigration action plan (2022-2025) that sets out how the province will work with employers and francophone partners to promote, attract and retain French-speaking newcomers in Nova Scotia communities and improve services in French, as part of an overall population growth strategy.
• Six PTs have established their own target for francophone immigration:
  • Ontario : 5% of total immigration and 5% of PNP allocations
  • Nova Scotia: aims to meet or exceed the federal government’s 4.4% target
  • New Brunswick : 33% of PNs by 2024
  • Newfoundland & Labrador: 5% increased, since 2018
  • Manitoba: 7% of all landings (Community Driven)
  • Northwest Territories : 5% increased, since 2018
• Additional points to candidates with strong French-language skills under Express Entry (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 2.2% in 2021 given temporary pandemic-related measures that impacted invitation rounds (i.e., focus on individuals in Canada and pausing invitations). As general invitation rounds resumed, this figure has increased and, between January and November 2022, 10.4% of invitations to apply were issued to French-speaking candidates.
• In June 2022, amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act were introduced to facilitate the selection of candidates on the basis of attributes, such as official language knowledge, through Express Entry. “Category-based selection”, expected to be launched in spring 2023, will allow more flexibility to respond to evolving economic needs and Government priorities. IRCC recently consulted provincial and territorial partners and stakeholders on categories to support the priorities of addressing chronic labour market shortages and positioning for the future, and supporting economic growth in Francophone minority communities through Francophone immigration. The Department is analyzing input along with labour market information to recommend categories for Ministerial approval. Categories have not yet been established and will change over time.
• A Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration was inaugurated in November 2022. The Centre 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 $12.9M over four years to establish the Dieppe Centre, then $5.6M 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.