Canada to encourage Francophone Immigration as part of the new Action Plan for the official languages (2023-2028). This is specifically from the Americas, Middle East, Africa, and Europe. The announcement took place in Ottawa on April 26.
In addition to the $2.7 billion in the new Action Plan’s five-year budget, there is an additional $1.4 billion in the old Action Plan. In five years, this comes to more than $4.1 billion. Further, it represents the biggest sum ever allocated by a government to support official languages.
The following four major priorities are a part of the Action Plan:
- Increase the number of immigrants who are Francophones to hasten the demographic weight of Francophones returning.
- Encourage the use of our two official languages for lifelong learning.
- Assist official-language minority communities in remaining vibrant.
- Bolster community support by building on effective government activity.
Contribution of the New Action Plan toward French-speaking immigration
Developing French-speaking communities in Canada, particularly outside of Quebec, depends heavily on immigration from francophone countries. To accomplish this, the Action Plan will invest $13.4 million over the course of five years. Also, this investment will be in a new operational and policy framework for Francophone immigration. It will review overall governance and current commitments under the Francophone Immigration Strategy. This strategy came into effect in 2019.
According to the government, the new operational framework policy would promote the immigration of Francophones. Further, it will make it easier for French-speaking or bilingual immigrants to establish and integrate into Francophone minority groups.
Additionally, $18.5 million will be spent over the course of five years to build recruitment support both domestically and internationally. This will concern Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. In addition, the Francophone Integration Pathway will receive $50 million over the course of five years. Moreover, the pathway aims to facilitate newcomers’ integration and settlement in Canada. Apart from this, it aims to increase the ability of Francophone minority communities to welcome them.
According to the Action Plan, this will become possible through ongoing programs like Welcoming Francophone Communities and brand-new initiatives. Along with a plan to better help immigrant women who speak French.
Emphasizing on early learning, they’ll offer $16.3 million as an investment over five years. Eventually, this will support a number of focused, integrated initiatives to increase the number of foreign-recruited French instructors and French-speaking teachers at the primary and secondary levels. The educators will subsequently relocate to Francophone neighborhoods in Canada.
Finally, the government would invest $3.5 million to enhance bilingual and Francophone immigration under current programs.
Canada to encourage Francophone Immigration
The mandate of the Canadian government is to uphold and advance the status of both English and French as official languages.
The Official Languages Act has three main goals:
- To uphold respect for English and French as Canada’s official languages.
- Ensure that they are treated equally in terms of status, rights, and privileges when used in all federal institutions;
- To aid in the development of English- and French-speaking minority communities;
- Initiate the equality of status and use of the two languages within Canadian society;
- Outline the powers, duties, and functions of the various federal institutions.
Apart from New Brunswick, which is officially bilingual, Quebec is the only French-speaking province in Canada. It is the responsibility of IRCC to develop and advocate for French-speaking communities outside of Quebec.
Nearly 16,300 new immigrants could settle in Francophone minority communities across Canada in the past year. This data is in accordance with statistics released in January by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.
Just over 2,800 admissions of French-speaking residents from outside Quebec were made in 2006 (the first census year). The admissions in 2022 indicate a noteworthy increase of 3.02% (from 1.38% to 4.4%). The number of French speakers in Canada is still decreasing. According to the IRCC, there were 21.4% fewer French-speaking Canadians in 2021 compared to 22.2% in 2016.
