Canada is losing 35% of its French-speaking immigrants, a trend particularly marked in Quebec and Ontario, concludes the Conference Board of Canada in a report published Tuesday.
The study, commissioned by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, notes this proportion of departures over the long term.
However, it is in their first five years of permanent residence in Canada that newcomers are most likely to leave, regardless of whether they are French-speaking or not. For immigrants who have French as their mother tongue, it is the first two years that are decisive.
“There is an imperative to act urgently so that these first years […] are excellent. Otherwise, our data indicates that they are very comfortable exploring other options,” Daniel Bernhard, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said at a press briefing.
The fact that the exodus of French speakers is more marked in Quebec does not surprise the authors of the report, since it is “the province which welcomes the greatest number of French-speaking immigrants”.
Half of French-speaking newcomers leaving Canada resided in Quebec, according to the analysis.
“A Francophone who leaves is not a Francophone who contributes to the French character of Quebec,” added Mr. Bernhard.
Language is not enough
According to him, the data collected suggests that mastery of French is far from being the only reason why an immigrant would decide to stay in Quebec for good or not.
Thus, the challenges of access to housing as well as integration through a social fabric and a network of colleagues also weigh in the balance, he gave as an example.
The phenomenon of exodus of French-speaking immigrants is more surprising in Ontario, according to the Conference Board of Canada. “The cumulative rate of subsequent migration of Francophones is high compared to the lower proportion of Francophone immigrants who settle there. This means that Ontario is struggling to retain French-speaking immigrants at the same rate as immigrants are settling there,” we read.
Thus, the authors of the report believe that, without better retention capacity, Canada’s objectives of increasing the proportion of French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec could be difficult to achieve.
“We always talk about the number [de ceux] who come. I hope that with this data, we will also talk more about the number [de ceux] who remain,” argued Mr. Bernhard.
Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller believes the report contains “a lot of speculation,” but he said he wants to read it in detail.
“I do not want to minimize, however, the conclusions. The reality is that integration is everyone’s business, whether individuals, cities, provinces, territories and Canada,” he said at the press scrum.
The office of Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge did not respond to a request for comment from The Canadian Press.
The Ontario Ministry of Labor and Immigration, for its part, defended the investments made by the province to support French-speaking immigrants, mentioning a $25 million fund for skills development.
“Through targeted investments in training programs for Francophones and through policy measures, Ontario is strengthening its Francophone workforce and ensuring that businesses have access to the skilled workers they need to grow and be competitive,” we said by email.
Official retention targets?
Ottawa announced last month that it will increase its French-speaking immigration targets outside Quebec to 8.5% in 2025, 9.5% in 2026 and 10% in 2027, an increase of 1.5 percentage points. for the first two years and a new target for the third.
The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada is calling for the target to be set at 12%, which it considers to be “the minimum” in order to restore and advance the demographic weight of Francophones.
Minister Miller says he is concerned about the fact that French-speaking immigrants outside Quebec are leaving rural areas that need their contribution for other centers of attraction in the country. “So there may be the attraction of other places in Canada,” he argued.
The Conference Board recommends that the case of provinces that perform better in terms of retention of Francophone immigrants be studied in order to “highlight exemplary practices that promote the development of welcoming Francophone communities.”
Mr. Miller said that two pilot projects launched by his ministry are bearing fruit. “ [Ils] still have retention rates that are close to 80%, so it’s a success, but in several respects we are going against the tide. »
Among French-speaking, English-speaking and allophone newcomers, the rate of exile is higher among economic immigrants, and particularly those who were foreign students before obtaining their permanent residence.
Daniel Bernhard believes that Ottawa should consider setting immigrant retention targets. The government could unveil these each year, at the same time as publishing its levels set for welcoming new people into each immigration program.
The CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship deplores that Canada is unable to retain talent and immigrants who have been “handpicked” for their skills.
On this subject, Mr. Miller argued that skilled immigrants are known to be mobile since they can find, over time, interesting employment elsewhere in the world.
To watch on video
Related News :