Canada implements a law to encourage Francophone immigration and the existing minorities outside Quebec.
The Official Languages Act (OLA) now includes immigration for the first time, thanks to Bill C-13. The OLA is the federal law that declared English and French to be Canada’s official languages. The new law updates the National Languages Act to acknowledge that French, a Canadian national language, is in danger. It is essential to safeguard the language status. The act is split into three sections. The first portion modifies the Official Languages Act, and the second part governs the use of French in privately owned, federally regulated businesses. Meanwhile, the third part describes how the law will be used in practice.
Canada implements a law to encourage Francophone immigration
The new law acknowledges the significance of francophone immigration to francophone minority populations beyond Quebec. It introduces immigration in the Official Languages Act for the first time.
Legislative changes are among the immigration-related initiatives. In particular, IRCC must create a francophone immigration policy with objectives, targets, and indicators. Also, immigration is acknowledged as a factor in preserving or boosting the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities.
The law also allows those who work in federally regulated private companies in Quebec or in areas of French speakers outside of Quebec to conduct business and receive services in French. To increase access to justice, the statute stipulates that all judges appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada must be multilingual.
Due to a shortage of multilingual professionals, the Liberal government hopes that the new law would enhance the availability of childcare, education, and health care services in French across Canada.
The dedication of IRCC to French-speaking immigration
Communities with minority francophones are seeing a reduction in their population size. The most recent census, conducted in 2021, revealed a decrease in the overall percentage of Francophones living outside of Quebec, from 3.6% in 2016 to 3.3% in 2021.
IRCC is aware of this decline and has a history of supporting French-speaking immigrants from outside of Quebec as well as access to settlement assistance.
IRCC put forward the Francophone Immigration Strategy in 2019 to support efforts along the immigration process. This ranges from recruitment and marketing of IRCC missions abroad to selection and integration in Canada. According to the IRCC, they will achieve their goal of bringing 4.4% of French-speaking immigrants to Canada from outside Quebec by 2023.
Under the Francophone Immigration Strategy, several important projects include:
- Awarded additional points for candidates who speak French and are bilingual under Express Entry.
- Temporary dedicated streams for candidates who speak French. Also, if they are bilingual as part of the TR2PR pathway for essential workers and recent international graduates already in Canada.
- Increased funding that enabled the delivery of settlement services to French-speaking newcomers outside of Quebec. It is enhanced by over 80 francophone service providers.
Creating the strategy for francophone immigration includes a new and more significant admission objective for francophone immigration beyond Quebec. IRCC is currently working on this.
