OLLO – Policy on Francophone Immigration – November 4, 2024

Key Facts and Figures

• The Policy on Francophone Immigration was launched on January 16, 2024.
• The Policy recognizes the important role that immigration plays in contributing to the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities in Canada and the importance of Francophone immigration to economic development.
• The Implementation Plan covers a five-year period and includes over 40 measures that reflect the perspectives of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) partners.
• Since the launch of the Policy in January, IRCC has:
  • Increased its promotion and recruitment efforts;
  • Launched an expression of interest process for participation in a new Francophone Community Immigration Pilot;
  • Launched the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP) ;
  • Announced the addition of 10 communities to the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative;
  • Began work to develop a Francophone lens for the Department;
  • Has received approximately 70 project concepts as part of the Francophone Immigration Support Program led by the Centre for Innovation in Francophone Immigration. The Department will announce funded projects this fall during the Semaine nationale de l’immigration francophone.
  • Put in place mechanisms to monitor progress in implementing these measures and to strengthen multi-stakeholder collaboration;

Key Messages

• The Policy on Francophone Immigration paves the way for concrete action so that the Department can meet its obligations under the modernized Official Languages Act, which now makes Francophone immigration an ongoing priority for IRCC.
• The Policy provides a framework for the Department's work to enhance the vitality and the economic development of Francophone minority communities, which includes real progression towards the restoration and increase of their demographic weight in response to this whole-of-government commitment.
• The Policy is complemented by a five-year Implementation Plan with over 40 measures across the full immigration continuum. Since the launch of the Policy, IRCC has put in place governance, monitoring, and collaboration mechanisms to oversee the work and ensure ongoing progress and announced measures to support the vitality of Francophone minority communities. Other key measures to support the work, including the Francophone immigration lens, are under development.

Supplementary Information

Main Elements of the Policy

The Policy covers five action areas.

• First, it provides for the introduction of a Francophone Lens, a tool for analyzing current and future IRCC policies and programs, which will allow the Department to integrate our Francophone immigration objectives into all of its work and thus optimize results, including targets for admissions of French-speaking permanent residents outside Quebec, which constitute the second area of action.
• IRCC also intends to work actively across the entire immigration continuum: doing more and better in promotion and attraction; selecting candidates who respond to community priorities; and strengthening integration and settlement.
• In addition, there is an action area dedicated to multi-stakeholder collaboration: provincial and territorial governments, as well as local authorities and community stakeholders, whether economic, cultural, or social, play an important role when it comes to immigration, and their engagement is essential to the Policy’s success.
• IRCC actions will need to rely on research and evidence-based data, and as such, the Department has strengthened its partnership with Statistics Canada.
• In accordance with the requirements of the modernized Official Languages Act, the Policy includes mechanisms for reporting and communicating progress, including through an evaluation of the Policy every five years.

Implementation Plan

• As the Policy is a high-level framework, it is complemented by an Implementation Plan that includes more specific short-term objectives, flagship measures, as well as performance indicators and targets.
• The Implementation Plan covers a five-year period, as many initiatives require several years to implement. It includes over 40 measures that reflect the perspectives of IRCC partners.
• If adjustments are necessary, the Department will not wait five years to modify its Implementation Plan. IRCC wants to be agile, and the Policy allows for adjustments if, following discussions with partners, other means are required to achieve the objectives of the Policy, for example.
• Additionally, annual meetings will take place with partners from provinces/territories, other federal departments, and Francophone minority communities to help inform the Plan and discuss progress.

If Pressed – Responsive Lines

Why the Policy is departmental and not interdepartmental

• In accordance with its obligations under the modernized Official Languages Act, IRCC adopted a Francophone immigration policy that falls entirely under its responsibility.
• IRCC’s actions are carried out while respecting other federal departments’ mandates and the shared jurisdiction over immigration with provincial and territorial governments and their linguistic diversity.
• Nevertheless, the Policy’s success depends on close collaboration between IRCC, other federal departments, provincial and territorial governments, and Francophone minority communities.

How reinforced IRCC governance is enhancing leadership on Francophone immigration and supporting implementation of the Policy

• IRCC is organized to ensure strong leadership on the Francophone immigration file, with an Assistant Deputy Minister in charge of the file as well as a dedicated branch. This entails both a direct role in implementing certain elements on Francophone immigration (e.g., support for settlement services) and a central role in mobilizing relevant partners within and outside the Department.
• A Steering Committee at the director general level monitors implementation of the measures included in the Implementation Plan of the Policy.

How the Policy will support progress towards the restoration and increase of demographic weight

• The Policy aims to enhance the vitality of Francophone minority communities, which includes restoring and increasing their demographic weight.
• Although immigration has an important role to play in restoring and increasing the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities, it is only one lever among many. Various factors have contributed to the demographic decline of Francophones in Canada outside Quebec, including a low fertility rate, incomplete intergenerational transmission of French, and interprovincial mobility.
• For this reason, restoring and increasing demographic weight will require a combination of whole-of-government and whole-of-society efforts. The scope of this issue goes beyond immigration. Sustained commitment and willingness to act will be required, and the Department will work to foster its partners’ engagement in this regard.
• Moreover, translating an increase in admissions of French-speaking immigrants into an increased demographic weight requires several conditions to be in place for success. These are responsibilities shared by the entire federal government, provinces and territories, and communities themselves, and are also levers at our disposal:
  • The availability of employment and housing;
  • Foreign credential recognition;
  • The provision of essential services in French; and,
  • The promotion of French and Francophone and Acadian minority communities in Canada’s diplomatic relations.
• Given the many factors that influence demographic weight, the contributions of all stakeholders are critical to the long-term success of the Policy. With the new Policy, the Department will make an effort to create opportunities for greater interdepartmental and intergovernmental collaboration on Francophone immigration that benefit everyone.

Why the Policy does not include a deadline for restoring demographic weight

• Restoring the demographic weight of Francophones outside Quebec to a level proportionally equivalent to that reported in the 1971 Census is a highly ambitious goal.
• The work to leverage immigration in support of this objective will need to be phased and will likely span decades in order to ensure that:
  • Targets for admissions of French-speaking permanent residents remain realistic and attainable while gradually increasing;
  • Partners have the time to prepare the infrastructure and services necessary for the integration and retention of a growing number of newcomers in Francophone minority communities;
  • IRCC has the necessary time to develop, implement, and see the effects of all Francophone immigration measures; and
  • IRCC retains the necessary operational flexibility to successfully fulfill its overall mandate.
• Given that many factors beyond IRCC’s mandate influence demographic weight, the work to restore it requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach; this makes it difficult for IRCC to set an end date for this achievement when the Policy is strictly a departmental policy.
• However, IRCC will maintain up-to-date population projections based on its admissions targets in order to demonstrate that its approach, which is flexible and makes regular adjustments based on analyses, is reasonable given the factors that negatively influence demographic weight and that the Department is fully leveraging Francophone immigration.

Impact of the Policy on the Canada-Quebec Accord

• IRCC collaborates with the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration, the Department’s counterpart in the Government of Quebec, while respecting the respective roles and responsibilities of the two levels of government defined in the Canada-Quebec Agreement of 1991.
• Under the Canada-Quebec Accord, Quebec is the only province that annually publishes its immigration goals and targets.
• Quebec also has authority over the Francization and integration of all immigrants into the province.

Links to the Official Languages Act

• The modernized Official Languages Act reinforces the government’s language obligations. Among other things, that Act mentions that the Government of Canada recognizes the importance of francophone immigration in enhancing the vitality of Francophone minority communities, including by restoring and increasing their demographic weight.
• The Act sets out the obligation for the Minister of IRCC to adopt “a policy on francophone immigration to enhance the vitality of French linguistic minority communities in Canada, including by restoring and increasing their demographic weight.”
• The Policy on Francophone Immigration must state that “the Government of Canada recognizes:
  • that immigration is one of the factors that contributes to maintaining or increasing the demographic weight of French linguistic minority communities in Canada; and
  • recognizes the importance of Francophone immigration to economic development.”
• The Act defines restoration in relation to the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities as a “return of the demographic weight of all members of those communities whose first official language spoken is French to the level it had at the time of the census of the population of Canada taken by Statistics Canada in 1971, namely, 6.1% of the population outside Quebec.”
• Moreover, the Act acknowledges that the contribution of all federal institutions is important to ensure the restoration and increase of demographic weight; in fact, to “restore and increase the demographic weight of French linguistic minority communities” is included as an example of positive measures that federal institutions could take to meet their obligations under the Official Languages Act.
• In its work on Francophone immigration, IRCC respects the government’s commitments and complies with its obligations under the modernized Official Languages Act.

Consultations

• IRCC had worked on the development of the Policy since 2022, gathering the perspectives of various partners, which informed the content.
• The governments of the provinces/territories and community stakeholders shared their perspectives, their priorities, and the challenges they faced. The Policy was also discussed with counterparts from other key federal departments that play a role in the overall success of French-speaking newcomers.