OLLO – Summary Report - Standing Senate Committee On Official Languages – February 6, 2023

Date and time: June 6, 2022 / 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Videoconference (hybrid and in-person and zoom)

Report prepared by:
Mélodie Terracol, Cabinet and Parliamentary Affairs
Canadian Heritage
melodie.terracol@pch.gc.ca

Committee Members

René Cormier (ISG) (Chair)
Bernadette Clement (ISG)
Marie-Françoise Mégie (ISG)
Lucie Moncion (ISG)
Percy Mockler (C)
Rose-May Poirier (C)
Jean-Guy Dagenais (CSG)
Pierre J. Dalphond (PSG)
Raymonde Gagné (Non-affiliated)

Subject:

Study matters relating to Francophone immigration to minority communities / Étude sur l’immigration francophone en milieu minoritaire

Witnesses

Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick

• Kassim Doumbia, 2nd Vice-President of the Board of Directors
• Michelle Barclay, Director of Policy

Association of Bilingual Municipalities of Manitoba

• Annie Girard, Associate, Municipal Immigration File

Summary

Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick

Kassim Doumbia, 2nd Vice-President of the Board of Directors

Michelle Barclay, Director of Policy

• The province of NB is facing a demographic challenge.
  • Solution: Implementation of the municipal nominee program
• It would take 10,000 newcomers per year to correct the deficit.
• Francophone immigration accounts for less than 20% of newcomers to the province.
• Communities need to have a say in selecting newcomers.

Association of Bilingual Municipalities of Manitoba

Annie Girard, Associate, Municipal Immigration File

• Several consultation, research and capacity-building activities have been conducted over the past two years.
• Manitoba’s Francophone immigration target is 7%, while the federal government’s target is 4.4%. The FCFA’s recommendation to increase the target is supported.
• The AMBM will publish its 2022–2025 strategy for supporting economic immigration in bilingual municipalities in Manitoba. Four basic principles:
  • Address immigration using an inclusive linguistic approach that values bilingualism, viewed through a Francophone and regional lens.
  • Promote immigration that attracts the talent we seek and meets entrepreneurial needs in a manner consistent with the local and regional economic fabric.
  • Build the capacity of our members in a manner consistent with their immigration needs and objectives.
  • Join forces with the other two levels of government to actively help define and meet immigration targets.

Questions

Rose-May Poirier (C)

• Your recommendation is to increase the Francophone immigration target in NB to 30–40%? How did you arrive at that figure? And what should the federal government do to maintain demographic weight in Acadian communities?
  • Doumbia: We are asking for an increase to offset the demographic deficit.
• Is it feasible to have a national target and a regional target?
  • Doumbia: If we want the federal government to be able to meet the targets, the federal targets must be increased so we can attract Francophones to the province.
• Can you describe the consultation mechanism between IRCC and the municipalities? Should the consultations be improved?
  • Girard: The consultations held by AMBM stemmed from financial support from IRCC.
  • Doumbia: There was no consultation between IRCC and the association and its members. There is a void in that respect.

Raymonde Gagné (Non-affiliated)

• From an organizational perspective, what mechanism needs to be put in place to ensure that the immigration strategy is carried out on the ground, in the municipalities?
  • Girard: That is one of the most important issues. We want the municipalities to be at the decision-making table with the other two levels of government. The mechanism will need to be determined.
• In Bill C-13, establishing an immigration policy. Do you think the municipalities should be included in that policy?
  • Doumbia: Yes, indeed. The municipality is the level of government closest to citizens.
  • Girard: We would like to have a greater impact on recruitment and immigrant selection.

Jean-Guy Dagenais (CSG)

• Do you think the federal government is using you properly? What type of additional responsibilities could you take on so Francophone immigrant cases are unblocked faster? If there are barriers, where are they?
  • Doumbia: Yes, the municipality could play a greater role in immigration matters. If municipalities were involved seriously in the process, the selection process could be streamlined. We would need additional resources to take on a greater role.
  • Girard: The municipalities all agree that there needs to be more autonomy in terms of selecting immigrants, but not the additional bureaucracy. No, we are not being used to our full potential.

Bernadette Clement (ISG)

• Why was this type of program (designation of welcoming communities) launched and what did the municipalities that were not that selected do?
  • Doumbia: One welcoming community was selected in NB, and the other communities that were not selected had no choice but to continue their work. The current housing programs do not meet the needs of the local communities.
• What specifically do you need from the other levels of government in terms of the housing crisis?
  • Girard: There is already a housing crisis in our municipalities without immigration. If we want to host immigrants in rural areas, we have to build housing very soon, and in the medium and long term. An environment that could deal with this needs to be created.

Marie-Françoise Mégie (ISG)

• In your opinion, are Francophone immigrants attracted to NB because you are a bilingual province?
  • Doumbia: Yes, that gives it an edge.
• Compared to Quebec and the search for Francophone immigrants, you are in second place compared to the other provinces that unilingual Anglophone?
  • Doumbia: Yes, but Quebec maintains tighter control over its immigration than NB.
• Do you have any data on the provenance of Francophone immigrants to your municipalities?
  • Girard: We have data; we could share it with the committee.
  • Doumbia: We have data; we could share it with the committee.

Lucie Moncion (ISG)

• Municipal nominee programs.
  • Doumbia: I cannot tell you if NB has any competitive advantages compared to the other provinces.
  • Girard: None of our members are part of the pilot project.
• My question is related to the pool of potential candidates. What is your involvement in selecting who is coming? Are you consulted?
  • Girard: For Manitoba, we work with the province. We have no problem attracting people, the problem is getting the resources to manage and host the pool of candidates. But we would like autonomy in the Manitoba nominee program.
  • Doumbia: As for NB, I would say that the federal minister has not had any direct consultations with members in New Brunswick. The organization with which we have been mostly closely in touch is the Réseau de développement économique et d’employabilité (RDÉE Canada).

René Cormier (ISG)

• Should this national strategy promote regional sharing? Should there be funding to promote the coordination of immigration in the regions, considering the specifics of the regions and the partners directly affected?
  • Doumbia: Collaboration is a key factor. I do not think that a program that could bring all these stakeholders together exists yet.
  • Girard: The regionalization of immigration is inevitable and is something the AMBM is working toward.
• Is funding the main obstacle or are there other factors that make it hard to work collaboratively?
  • Girard: We are just beginning in most rural bilingual municipalities, so what is required is enormous, including financial and human resources. It would be important to have decentralized human resources.
  • Doumbia: Yes, human and financial resources are an issue.

Jean-Guy Dagenais (CSG)

• Are Francophone immigrants in Manitoba who choose to settle in a Francophone community being told, regardless of the city, that they will receive municipal services in French and can in fact live in French? Are there gaps, where are they and how can we deal with them?
  • Girard: No, Manitoba’s bilingual municipalities are primarily Anglophone communities that have decided to acknowledge the French fact, their own Francophone population, and to do their utmost to provide municipal services in both official languages.