OLLO – Q-979 IRCC Response – February 6, 2023

Inquiry Of Ministry

Prepare in English and French marking "original text" or "translation"

Question no: Q-979

By: Mr. Brunelle-Duceppe (Lac-Saint-Jean)

Date: November 16, 2022

Reply by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Marie-France Lalonde, M.P.

Signature
Minister or Parliamentary Secretary

Question

With regard to the impact of the immigration levels established by the federal government on the French presence in Canada: (a) what studies have been commissioned or conducted by the government to determine what impact the immigration levels will have on the vitality of French in Canada; (b) what studies or proposals for studies have been commissioned or conducted by the government on francophone immigration targets in Canada; (c) what studies or proposals for studies have been commissioned or conducted by the government on the refusal rates of francophone immigrants to Canada; (d) what studies or proposals for studies have been commissioned or conducted by the government to assess what levels of francophone immigration were necessary to maintain the demographic weight of francophone official language minority communities; (e) what were the conclusions of these studies; (f) what is the correspondence between Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the IRCC Research Evaluation Office, Francophone Immigration Policy Division, on the impact of immigration on French; and (g) can the government release the correspondence between IRCC and the IRCC Research Evaluation Office, Francophone Immigration Policy Division, regarding its francophone immigration target strategy?

Reply: Original Text: X
Translation:

Insofar As Immigration, Refugees And Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Is Concerned:  (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e)

With respect to the establishment of immigration levels in Canada and their effect on the Francophone presence in Canada, IRCC has not conducted the type of impact studies referenced in the inquiry. The immigration levels plan is developed following extensive consultations with the provinces and territories, stakeholders and the general public. The French-speaking admission target, included in the immigration levels plan, highlights the number of francophone admissions required, relative to the overall annual targets and ranges of the levels plan, to meet the target of 4.4% French-speaking admissions outside of Quebec.

Studies, reports and analyses suggest various courses of action and recognize the need to support the prosperity of French in Canada and the need to act to strengthen linguistic duality in Canada.

IRCC also regularly monitors all of its operations and pays particular attention to Francophone immigration, which the Department strives to promote. In addition, the Department regularly monitors the approval rate of temporary and permanent resident applications around the world, with a constant focus on providing fair treatment to all its clients based on established selection criteria.

(f) The Research and Evaluation Branch of IRCC corresponds with other teams across the department as required to support many aspects of the departmental mandate. They provide relevant, timely, rigorous evidence and strategic decision-making support to advance IRCC policies and programs. The Policy Research team of Research and Evaluation develops and conducts research designed to deepen the understanding of immigration policies, including outcomes and impacts, in order to support policy development in the department.

(g) Openness, transparency and accountability are guiding principles of the Government of Canada. The Government of Canada would provide correspondence based on the Access to Information and Privacy Act.