A rather positive outcome for French-speaking immigration during the Trudeau era

Northern Ontario stakeholders believe that there has been a lot of progress in terms of French-speaking immigration in the region and elsewhere in the country since Justin Trudeau’s Liberals formed the government.

When Mr. Trudeau came to power in 2015, there was no real immigration target [francophone]In any case [pas de cibles] tangiblesays Fabien Hébert, president of the Assembly of the Francophonie of Ontario.

And then, I think that French-speaking immigration to Ontario was really stagnant.

We saw the arrival of targets which made it possible to put strategies in place to increase immigration in our regionnotes Mr. Hébert.

Thomas Mercier, coordinator of the Francophone Immigration Support Network of Northern Ontario (Réseau du Nord), makes the same observation.

It was really in the first years of his mandate that we saw the first initiatives really materialize on the ground.he explains.

He cites in particular the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiative, with the designation of Sudbury, and the pilot immigration program in rural and northern communities.

There is also the arrival of new services from French-speaking establishments in Sudbury, Hearst, Timmins, Kapuskasing, Thunder Bay.

Mr. Mercier adds that there has been a change in culture regarding French-speaking immigration within Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

Some decline during the pandemic

Thomas Mercier says the pandemic has been like a brick that fell on your head of the French-speaking community in relation to immigration.

The government favored candidates already in Canada, according to him.

I am talking in particular about the opening of programs which gave permanent residence to everyone during the pandemicexplains the coordinator of the Northern Network.

There were programs for the Francophonie, but these figures were almost never reached because the catchment area [résidents temporaires francophones] was not there, he specifies.

We have seen a slight step backwards in French-speaking immigration.

Mr. Mercier emphasizes that since then, the immigration targets have been reached and that they have been increased for the coming years, despite the slowdown on the number of total immigrants who will be welcomed.

Essential for maintaining services

In Timmins, the mayor, Michelle Boileau, emphasizes that there has been good progress regarding French-speaking immigration in recent years.

This is really the result of federal policies.

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Ms. Boileau adds that if we want to maintain the level of services in French in Timmins, […] we really need to focus on French-speaking immigration.

Uncertainty for the coming months

Thomas Mercier says there is good news regarding the new French-speaking immigration program in rural areas, but the official announcement has not yet taken place.

Will it happen?he wonders, in reference to the prorogation of Parliament and a possible change of government.

He believes that there would not necessarily be a decline in French-speaking immigration under a Conservative government, but there would probably be no progress either.

We would absolutely like to see the programs continuesaid for her part Michelle Boileau.

We will continue to promote French-speaking immigration, especially outside Quebec.

The mayor of Timmins admits that there are fears when there is a change of government.

For his part, Fabien Hébert would like to see programs that favor foreign students, especially for French-speaking post-secondary institutions.