Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Official Languages
Issue 7 - Evidence - Meeting of May 26, 2014
OTTAWA, Monday, May 26, 2014
The Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages met this day, at 5 p.m., to continue its study on the impact of recent changes to the immigration system on official language minority communities.
[Translation]
Daniel Charbonneau, Clerk of the Committee: As clerk of the committee, I am informing you of the unavoidable absence of the chair and the deputy chair. It is therefore my duty to proceed to the election of an acting chair. I am ready to receive a motion to that effect. Are there any motions?
Senator Charette-Poulin: I move that Senator Fortin-Duplessis do take the chair as acting chair of this committee.
Mr. Charbonneau: Moved by the Honourable Senator Charette-Poulin that the Honourable Senator Fortin- Duplessis do take the chair as acting chair. Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Mr. Charbonneau: I now invite Senator Fortin-Duplessis to take the chair.
Senator Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis (Acting Chair) in the chair.
The Acting Chair: Honourable senators, I call this meeting of the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages to order. My name is Senator Suzanne Fortin-Duplessis, from Quebec, and I would ask senators to introduce themselves, starting on my left.
Senator Rivard: I am Senator Michel Rivard from Quebec.
[English]
Senator Marshall: Senator Elizabeth Marshall, Newfoundland and Labrador.
[Translation]
Senator Charette-Poulin: Welcome to the Senate of Canada, distinguished witnesses. I am Marie Poulin, and I represent northern Ontario.
Senator Chaput: Maria Chaput, from Manitoba.
The Acting Chair: We are continuing our study on the impact of recent changes to the immigration system on official language minority communities.
The goal of today's meeting is to get a picture of the challenges and opportunities that immigration presents in two post-secondary francophone institutions located in majority anglophone communities.
With us today are Pierre Riopel, President of Collège Boréal; Jean-Pierre Cantin, Collège Boréal's Director, Services and Programs, Central-Southwestern Region; Mildred Jean-Paul, a member of the Board of Governors; and Yvon Laberge, the Executive Director of Collège Éducacentre.
Have you come up with a plan for your presentations? Ms. Jean-Paul will start off. After the presentations, we will proceed with questions.
Mildred Jean-Paul, Member of the Board of Governors, Collège Boréal: Thank you for inviting us to testify before the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages. First, let us introduce you to Collège Boréal.
Collège Boréal is an Ontario French-language community college of applied arts and technology that was founded in 1995 and that will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year.
The mission of Collège Boréal is two-fold. We provide a high-calibre personalized education to a diverse clientele and we practice community leadership to foster the sustainable development of the francophone community of Ontario. Our vision is to foster knowledge and stimulate culture.
The mandate for Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology is to offer a comprehensive program of career- oriented post-secondary education and training to assist individuals in finding and keeping employment, to meet the needs of employers and the changing work environment, and to support the economic and social needs of their local and diverse communities.
Pierre Riopel, President, Collège Boréal: With those goals at heart, and with our 36 access centres, including 7 campuses in 27 communities in Ontario and a huge territory that includes up to 85 per cent of the entire province, Collège Boréal provides the Franco-Ontarian community and new French-speaking arrivals with a number of integrated programs and services, including courses of study in post-secondary education, continuing education, learning and business training, employment services, adult education, and language and settlement services for immigrants.
I will turn things over to Jean-Pierre Cantin, Director, Services and Programs, Central-Southwestern Region, who will explain to you the role that Collège Boréal is called upon to play in matters of the recruitment, welcome and integration of French-speaking immigrants or foreign students. This will be specifically in the context of the recent changes that the federal government has made and the specific emphasis on economic immigration.
Jean-Pierre Cantin, Director, Services and Programs, Central-Southwestern Region, Collège Boréal: Since 2004, Collège Boréal has been offering a huge range of training programs, as well as programs designed to facilitate the integration of new francophone and francophile immigrants to Canada. This is done through a number of its access centres, specifically those in Hamilton, London, Mississauga and Windsor. These settlement services aim to smooth the path to the labour market for French-speaking immigrants and to ensure that they are integrated into the minority francophone situation in those regions.
As was so rightly emphasized at the 2012 Metropolis conference by Line Pinet, the Director of the Canadian Francophonie and Official Languages Branch of the Division of Intergovernmental Affairs of the Government of New Brunswick and the representative of the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian Francophonie:
Language training for immigrants is also a priority in retaining and integrating them . . . at the same time recognizing that French-speaking immigration is essential to the vitality of the French fact in Canada.
In 2010, Collège Boréal adopted a strategic plan that emphasized our commitment to French-speaking immigrants. More and more recent arrivals are coming to Collège Boréal as students. The plan states that: "in this spirit of pluralism, the Collège opens its doors to the communities it serves so that everyone can take his or her place in the Boréal community."
Collège Boréal is therefore committed to settling immigrants in a number of aspects and is not limited to language training only.
Here is an overview of the programming and services offered to French-speaking immigrants by Collège Boréal through its various centres.
First, language training. Collège Boréal provides a number of language training programs to francophone and francophile immigrants in the regions we presently serve. As I said, these are Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, London and Windsor.
We provide language courses in French for immigrants to Canada like the CLIC program. We also offer a program in English called LINC — Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada. We offer the Formation linguistique axée sur les professions (FLAP), and Occupation-Specific Language Training (OSLT) in French and English respectively. We also offer relay programs in French for some regulated and non-regulated professions, specifically in childhood programs for French-speaking immigrants and an administration program, specializing in project management, that includes internships of from 8 to 12 weeks with employers who are partnering with our programs.
Since 2009, Collège Boréal has been offering settlement and integration services for francophone immigrants in our Windsor-Essex-Kent, London and Mississauga regions. These services include welcomes, needs assessments, help with administration, information, and referrals to community services in French, and to other services as needed, interpretation and outreach services, and workshops and information sessions.
We also offer business training sessions. The Centre d'Entrepreneuriat pour immigrants et immigrantes de London- Middlesex was established in 2012. Its mission is to help French-speaking immigrants get a start in business. The assistance ranges from simple business training workshops to support in drawing up business plans and obtaining loans.
The employment services offered by Collège Boréal to French-speaking immigrants who are looking for work can be found in all Employment Ontario's centres, of which there are 16 across the province, from Kapuskasing to Windsor. These services include job search assistance, skills and experience assessments, labour market information, résumé writing and interview preparation. They also include learning, literacy and refresher programs. We also offer business internships, paid and unpaid, which, for some of our clients, can last up to six months.
Collège Boréal is also very involved with immigration on the local, provincial and national levels. The college is an active participant in more than 15 provincial and national committees, initiatives and organizations devoted to immigration, particularly francophone immigration. This involvement allows us to ensure that the workforce training and education that the Collège offers are well designed and adequately funded to meet the specific needs of immigrants and local communities.
As you know, since 2008, we have been going through a profound and unprecedented change in the policies that affect immigration in all its aspects. For Collège Boréal, and for francophone post-secondary institutions in general, this change provides its share of opportunities and challenges.
Let us talk first about the opportunities. In terms of foreign students, we hope that the new foreign student regulations, which will go into effect on June 1, 2014, will make it easier to recruit them. These new regulations, which allow anyone holding a work permit to work off-campus up to 20 hours per week during regular academic sessions and full-time during scheduled breaks, without having to make a separate application for a work permit, will make our task in recruiting international students easier.
The Collège has also specifically tasked our Executive Director of Strategic Development with actively recruiting international students.
Keeping francophone immigrants in our minority language communities clearly involves referrals to institutional and community resources in French. Those working in the area of our operations that provides services to French- speaking immigrants must be familiar with the programs and services for francophones offered in their communities; they must also be aware of the importance of recommending those institutions and organizations and connecting francophone newcomers with them. Unfortunately, it happens all too often that the connections leave a lot to be desired, a challenge we will speak to later. We are therefore about to set up a training program for immigration consultants for francophones. We feel that this will allow us to meet the challenge.
Immigrants who arrive under the new Express Entry system will need new profession-oriented language training programs that will allow us to meet both the more specific training needs of new economic immigrants and the needs of employers. We have just designed and launched a relay program in project management for foreign-trained immigrants so that we can meet the demand for it in the Toronto, Hamilton, London and Windsor regions.
Allow me to give you a closer look at some of the challenges we are facing.
In preparation for the launch of the Express Entry system in 2015, CIC has started accepting applications in the skilled workers program, the skilled trades program, and the Canadian experience class as of May 1, 2014. These measures will ensure a constant flow of skilled workers who will become permanently settled in Canada and will meet Canada's labour needs in areas where there is a shortage. But this new system does relatively little for francophone immigration. Attaining the national target of 4.4 per cent and the Ontario target of 5 per cent, which Minister Alexander told you about a few days ago, remains a problem. Although the provincial nominees program represents the solution most frequently suggested as a way to attain that target, the fact remains that the quota of such nominations for 2014, set at 2,500 for Ontario, is clearly not enough. However, the Collège intends to get ahead of the game by alerting many of the employers we collaborate with in our employment services and advisory committees so that we can get a real commitment from them to hire francophones, especially in small and medium-sized businesses.
Language training for our francophone immigrants remains a problem because, depending on where they live, they do not always have access to that language training. The Collège is currently working to develop a platform that will allow that training to be offered to all francophone immigrants online, wherever they are in Ontario. This language training will allow them to have access to training in French or English, following the same social integration continuum as in minority situations. In addition, our programs are offered in a francophone environment, which allows immigrants to develop a feeling of affiliation with the French-speaking community. They also include a very significant intercultural dimension that encourages the potential of French-speaking immigrants to develop to its fullest.
Finally, a word about our new logical model. The objective of the model is to come to grips with the specific problem of linking French-speaking immigrants with francophone service providers in their communities.
We are proposing a logical model whereby settlement services and our post-secondary programs are grouped together in a one-stop shop and where the services are provided, either by the Collège directly or in partnership with community or institutional organizations (whenever that is possible and feasible, of course), in one place that would bring all the services together under one roof. We firmly believe that this approach will allow better connections between the various French-language service providers and will give French-speaking immigrants more direct access to our college programs. A collaborative and integrated approach, combining activities, programs and services offered to French-speaking immigrants, will allow us to address the various aspects of settlement services in a holistic way and to ease their integration into a minority francophone community situation. We presented the model last week at the 2014 TESL Canada conference in Regina and we now present to you the interesting conclusions of the resulting discussions.
[English]
A unanimous consensus was reached between the participants to our discussion group. A one-stop shop model seems to be the only solution for connecting settlement and college programs. Collaboration, partnering and offering all the services under one roof will solve the problems encountered too often by colleges where the settlement service providers do not know about college programming, the eligibility for these programs and how they can be accessed easily and be of benefit to immigrants.
[Translation]
Thank you for allowing us to testify before you today. We will be very happy to answer your questions.
Yvon Laberge, Executive Director, Collège Éducacentre: Good evening, Madam Chair, senators, colleagues and participants. On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Collège Éducacentre, of which I am the Executive Director, I would like to thank you for your invitation.
The object of this presentation is to offer you my thoughts, as an administrator of an adult training centre in a very minority francophone situation, on the challenges and opportunities that immigration provides to post-secondary francophone institutions. More specifically, I will situate those thoughts in the context of the federal government's recent changes and the specific emphasis placed on economic immigration.
The future of the francophone community in minority situations rests in large part on immigration. The ability to attract and keep French-speaking immigrants is essential for our community to develop and flourish. Against the background of the changes made to the federal government's immigration policy, I will highlight the importance of colleges in recruiting, and rapidly and effectively integrating, French-speaking immigrants in minority situations. I will conclude my presentation with some ideas that the committee might consider.
British Columbia, and the Greater Vancouver area in particular, is a destination of choice for immigrants. Of the 60,000 people in British Columbia whose mother tongue is French, 11,000, or 20 per cent of them, were born outside Canada. Seventy per cent of those immigrants are of European descent — coming mostly from France — 16 per cent are from Africa and 8 per cent are from the Americas. Those figures do not account for the many secondary immigrants who have come through Quebec and for whom French was the first official language they learned.
Collège Éducacentre is the only French-language college in British Columbia. It became a not-for-profit organization in 1992, and has gained distinction as a leader in minority language adult education and in distance education in British Columbia and Canada. In order to reach French speakers across the province, our courses, programs and services are provided on-site at our three campuses in Vancouver, Prince George and Victoria, and online through our virtual campus.
Every year, more than 500 students register for Collège Éducacentre's professional training in French. We have about 120 full-time and part-time employees.
We offer a wide range of courses, programs and services, including college-level programs, customized continuing education training, basic education, employment services and multiple services for students.
These services are available to immigrants. Collège Éducacentre also offers programs and services that are specific to the needs of immigrants.
Our first observation is that, in British Columbia, successful economic integration clearly requires a mastery of English. As a result, Collège Éducacentre includes English-language training in its courses and programs. For example, we offer labour market integration workshops in which language training is an essential component. We also offer the new LINC program — or language instruction to newcomers in Canada — to French-speaking cohorts.
We recognize that there are many pathways to immigration, so we provide a wide range of services that serve as a bridge leading immigrants to the access points they need.
In the past, for example, we had a settlement counsellor on-site. His role was indispensable for attracting immigrants upon their arrival and directing them to other services provided by the college or in the community.
At Collège Éducacentre, a newcomer can be redirected to a job counsellor, an academic and career guidance counsellor, a youth employment program and, of course, as I mentioned earlier, a wide range of programs and services.
Our global and integrated approach seems to resonate with the immigrant population. Since 2011, the number of registrations for all our programs and services has only increased, and the relative proportion of clients who use Collège Éducacentre's services and who were born outside Canada has exceeded 50 per cent, an increase of about 20 per cent since 2011.
Current and future changes to the immigration policy will therefore have a significant impact on Collège Éducacentre and other French-language colleges in a minority situation.
The expression of interest system that the federal government will put in place in January 2015 will make it possible to pair a potential immigrant with a Canadian employer. The system presupposes a high knowledge of one of the two official languages. However, in a very minority context like British Columbia, the candidate for immigration will have to demonstrate knowledge of English, which makes recruiting French-speaking candidates more difficult.
In addition, we anticipate that, in the long term, this system will decrease the need for language training. Furthermore, we feel that the Canadian experience class will have a major impact. This category now makes it possible for foreign temporary workers and foreign students who meet certain requirements to apply for permanent residency in Canada. As of June 1, 2014, a foreign student will be allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week and full-time during vacation periods. This initiative should make it easier to recruit foreign students.
The Canadian experience class will facilitate the immigration process for French and Belgian youth who come to Canada on a working-holiday permit or WHP. Canada welcomes 7,000 French-speaking WHP youths every year, including 1,500 to 2,000 who choose to settle in Vancouver.
Historically, Collège Éducacentre was a place where these WHP youth converged to use our employment services. We are seeing that some of them enrol in our college programs in order to find a job and apply for permanent residency. These young people generally have a very high level of education and are a large pool for recruiting French- speaking candidates for immigration. However, at the various levels of government, there are no support programs to integrate these WHP youth.
In the wake of recent changes by the federal government to immigration, and more specifically given the focus on economic immigration, it is clear that colleges will now play an even more important role in recruiting and integrating immigrants. The traditional links between employers and colleges will be vital to facilitate the liaison between employers and immigrants. This match may be done through a direct link once the immigrant arrives or through employment services or training. Above all, it can be done by recruiting international students.
But in order to support the implementation of these new policies, we hope that your committee will recommend that the Canadian government recognize the essential role of colleges in recruiting and integrating French-speaking immigrants in minority situations.
We also hope that your committee will recommend supporting and funding improved capacities and infrastructures of colleges in minority situations so that they can better serve the immigrant and international student populations. This requires recognition of the validity of the global and integrated model of immigration within the college structure.
We also need to have the tools that will help us to facilitate quick and effective economic integration, and to encourage the involvement of immigrants in the francophone community. More specifically, we need to improve services for welcoming immigrants, develop the availability and accessibility of orientation services in French, continue to fund French and English language training programs, including CLIC and LINC, and support recruitment activities by providing a special place for colleges within Destination Canada and in recruitment fairs organized by the Canadian consulates and embassies.
Lastly, it is important that the Canadian government encourage the various departments, specifically Citizenship and Immigration Canada, to favour the requests of colleges to provide direct integration services. Once again, thank you for inviting me to appear today. I will be pleased to answer your questions.
The Acting Chair: Thank you to all of you for your important presentations about the services you offer.
Senator Charette-Poulin: I am honoured to welcome you to our standing committee. I have had the opportunity in previous meetings to cite the example of Collège Boréal's success, which I did with great pride.
What really struck me in your presentations was that there is definitely a link. You really focus on the needs, the formulas for success, but also on the additional needs. You say that for the communities to continue to grow, be they in northern Ontario or in British Columbia, they depend increasingly on immigration, which is why it is important to implement new policies properly.
Could you please tell us about the success stories that your two institutions have had, specifically with respect to the jobs that your graduates are currently managing to find?
Mr. Cantin: Basically, with the integration system we offered and put in place, we have seen that it is now much easier for our immigrants to find work. Why? Because we are teaching them within these minority situation communities to gain a level of English that enables them to find a job.
But that is not enough. These people also need access to services that help them find a job. And so integrating our employment services, which they have access to and benefit from, gives them much more confidence to find gainful employment.
We have also seen that this integration allows them not only to find a job, but also, for example, if their literacy level is low or their secondary school diploma is not recognized here, we can help them with that and ensure that once they have the language skills, they are in a situation where they can have access to resources that also give them access to a group of employers looking for these people.
Our job counsellors put a lot of focus on this, and when we take in immigrants, we do an in-depth analysis of their skills, needs and the areas in which they would like to work.
Sometimes, it is impossible for immigrants to work directly in the field they were trained for, but we try as much as possible to find them a job in a related field that enables them to earn a living and flourish in our society.
Immigrants who arrive in one of our minority situation communities often come from Africa, which is a dual challenge. Not only do they have to integrate into the community as a whole, but they also have to integrate into the francophone minority community. We help them jump both hurdles.
Senator Charette-Poulin: Mr. Laberge, would you like to add anything to that?
Mr. Laberge: I could give you the example of the path of an immigrant in an institutional context that uses an overall and integrated approach. On December 12, 2012, two immigrants arrived together. They met with our settlement counsellor, who immediately realized that they were looking for housing and employment. He worked with them to find them housing then referred them to our job counsellor.
The job counsellor did an assessment and realized that one of them was eligible for the youth at work program. She got him into the program, which helps young people integrate through a systematic process to provide them with their first work experience in Canada.
The other individual was not eligible for the program, but they both met with the guidance counsellor.
The guidance counsellor realized that one of the individuals had two problems preventing him from entering the labour market: the first was that he did not speak English, and the second was that he could not read or write. That person was therefore enrolled in the LINC program and our literacy program. He has been here for 18 months and is still in both programs. His English has improved, he has found a part-time job, and he continues to use the college's services.
Senator Charette-Poulin: Based on the testimonies we have heard so far, it would seem that the witnesses all agree that immigrants have more chance of success if they arrive as students at post-secondary institutions than if they land directly in the labour market. It seems that the welcome systems, of which you spoke so well, Mr. Cantin and Mr. Laberge, provide very personalized services to students and invest in their future, while employers may not have these infrastructures to welcome, direct and support immigrants.
Would you have any recommendations to make to the government so that Canada can ensure in the long term that immigration policies increase the chance of success rather than increase the risk of failure?
Mr. Cantin: Yes, I think the solution is related to what I described earlier. It is true that students who arrive here can benefit from all the services we normally offer to students. It is easier for them.
They have guidance counsellors, and all the services are integrated. I agree with my colleague here about integration. The presentation I did in Regina two weeks ago had to do with the link between settlement services and college programs; sometimes the link is not made.
It is automatic when we provide settlement services. So when we provide settlement services to immigrants at the same time as the rest, they have access to all the college's services, just like our international students do. That is part of the integration continuum that we provide.
It is not always possible, however, because Citizenship and Immigration Canada sometimes prefers to provide settlement services. I am not going to comment on that; it is their choice. The settlement services belong to them, and they sometimes prefer to transfer them to community organizations that do not have this sensibility, this knowledge of all of our programs. Indeed, we sometimes lose them. Believe me, once we lose an immigrant, it is very difficult to get him or her back.
That is why when we offer these integration and settlement services, we do not lose a single one, if possible. We make sure that they stay with us, that they benefit from all our services and that they are fully integrated into this dynamic and vibrant francophone community, but they often do not know about this unless we tell them about all these services that are there for them.
Mr. Laberge: I agree with my colleague. We strongly believe that there should be more access points for services than exits. I believe that by working together and directing immigrants to global and integrated services, there are fewer exit points. As Mr. Cantin said, when we welcome immigrants into a situation where we can give them technical and professional training, as well as training and information on working in Canada, such as when they enter the economic system, the labour market, they will have a better chance of succeeding.
[English]
Senator Marshall: I know both of your institutions have been in existence for several years, so you would already have programs for international students. With the change now in the immigration system, you will build on the current system. I know you were talking about additional things you would like to do.
Where do your international students come from now? I think someone mentioned the majority are from Africa; is that correct? Would there be students from Haiti? Could you give me some idea as to exactly where the students are coming from and also the number of students you currently have?
Mr. Laberge: I don't have the exact numbers with me in terms of where they're from, but the majority of our international students come from North Africa, principally from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, with some coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo — more and more from there — and some from Mauritius.
Increasingly we're also seeing that the French PVTistes, even if they have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, they're enrolling in some of our college-level programs, because they're trying to get some kind of certificate or diploma that's sellable in a market in Canada.
Senator Marshall: For the increase we're expecting, I would imagine you would be focusing on those countries.
Mr. Laberge: Yes. France, I would say, and North Africa, but increasingly West Africa, as well. I think Senegal would be an important market, as well as the Ivory Coast. Those would be some places where we could recruit students.
Senator Marshall: Is that the same for Collège Boréal?
Mr. Riopel: We have approximately 25 international students at this point.
Senator Marshall: Where are they from?
Mr. Riopel: As with the Collège Éducacentre, mostly from Congo and the Maghreb. We also participate in Ontario initiatives of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, as well as various recruitment campaigns in West Africa. We just came back a couple of months ago from the Ivory Coast and Senegal. In November we were in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, in that area. We are planning once again, with our colleagues from French-language post-secondary institutions in Ontario, a trip to France and to Belgium at the end of June. We are extending —
Senator Marshall: And building.
Mr. Riopel: And building, absolutely.
Senator Marshall: Where you have been in existence for a number of years — I think 20 years — do you track your students? Where do they end up? I'm curious as to whether they end up in Francophonie communities for living but also for employment. Do they end up in employment areas where French is the primary language? Could you give us information with regard to those two items?
Mr. Riopel: The information I have is that many international students who arrived have gone back to larger centres like Toronto, for instance. They studied in Sudbury, and they go back to a larger centre or back to their country of origin as well. I don't have any hard facts or numbers to answer the question, but that's anecdotally what I have.
Senator Marshall: Do they stay attached to a Francophonie community or do they end up in an anglophone community? All this effort is being put into them and I was wondering where exactly they end up.
Mr. Riopel: Mr. Cantin mentioned a few seconds ago that the integration is actually almost on two levels, being in a majority anglophone community but being francophone. Therefore, you have the attachment to the French-language community in that area — be it in Hamilton, London or Toronto — but you will also integrate into larger English- language communities.
Senator Marshall: When most of the students arrive, are they unilingual, speaking one language, or multilingual or bilingual?
Mr. Cantin: That's a very good question because they're multilingual, but not necessarily in French and English. They speak a lot of languages from their country, so sometimes it's a plus for them. We end up hiring some of them as settlement counsellors because they can speak the languages of, let's say, the African immigrants arriving here. It's a plus for them.
But mainly, the international students we have coming from francophone countries speak French. It is their primary language, and they have a lot of others.
Senator Marshall: Mr. Cantin or Mr. Laberge talked about partnering with organizations. Could you tell us something about the organizations you partner with and whether you partner with other educational institutions?
Mr. Laberge: Yes, thank you. That's a very good question. I think that the partnership component, formal and informal, is essential.
Senator Marshall: I agree.
Mr. Laberge: In our view and in our practice, we partner with the francophone community but we also partner outside of that community. For example, there's a high concentration of francophone immigrants in Surrey, and we have created partnerships with an anglophone immigrant service agency that is working out extremely well. It has allowed us to multiply our services to the immigrants in many ways. So, yes, partnerships are essential.
Senator Marshall: Very important.
Mr. Laberge: With institutions, we go back and forth. We have protocols of understanding, not only in British Columbia but also with colleges such as the Collège Boréal, Cité Collègiale, and a number of different institutions across the country.
Senator Marshall: Collège Boréal, would it be the same for you? You are in a different location, but you do the same?
Mr. Cantin: We do the same and we are also participating on various committees. For instance, we are members of the national language advisory body. It is a creation of the CIC. This is an important initiative from CIC.
We also work closely with Cité Collègiale. They have the same idea about integration. We call ours La VOIE Boréal, our logic model. They call theirs the Le Parcours Francophone, which is exactly the same idea. We are on the same committees, working together and cooperating. We are trying, through a new initiative, l'Alliance des établissements postsecondaires de la francophonie canadienne, to collaborate with all the francophone colleges and universities offering services to immigrants across Canada. Actually, Mr. Laberge and I are on this alliance project.
Senator Marshall: You would have multiple partnerships.
Mr. Cantin: Absolutely.
Senator Marshall: My last question relates to money. Mr. Cantin or Mr. Laberge mentioned funding from the federal government. What is your source of funding? Does the federal government provide funding now or is this all funded by the students? Could you give me some idea from both institutions?
Mr. Laberge: Certainly. First of all, there's a lack of funding, as always, but we get our funding from multiple sources, from the provincial government principally through the Ministry of Education. We receive funding from CIC for certain programs, Service Canada, and a number of different ministries. We could go on for a while.
We're also encouraged more and more to develop revenue-generating activities so that we get autonomous funding as much as possible, but that's usually very labour intensive with low return.
Senator Marshall: Very little return. I understand.
For Collège Boréal, is it the same?
Mr. Cantin: It is about the same, but I would like to mention that for immigration services, we receive our funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada and also from MCI, which is the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. Bridging programs, for instance, are funded by the provincial government.
However, we are facing a decrease in the funding coming from CIC, which creates a real challenge because we are asked to offer the same services for less funding; do more with less. That's what we do. But at one point it's becoming quite difficult to achieve that.
Senator Marshall: Especially if the funding is decreasing and the student population is increasing; it's sort of an inverse correlation.
Mr. Cantin: Exactly, yes.
Senator Marshall: Thank you very much.
[Translation]
Senator Robichaud: When you say that you receive government funding as part of an immigration program, what is the percentage of funding in relation to the program you offer?
Mr. Cantin: When we talk about the LINC or CLIC language training program, 100 per cent of that program is funded by the government. The same is true for the settlement program, which is funded 100 per cent by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. However, in the case of bridging programs funded by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, we are required to contribute. The government funds about 70 per cent of the program, and we have to use our resources to absorb about 30 per cent of the costs. That contribution is not always obvious to assume. However, we contribute voluntarily because the childhood services education program for London-Middlesex is absolutely essential. In Ontario, we are experiencing a crisis with respect to early childhood educators. So the program is essential, and we have invested the necessary resources to ensure that it can go forward.
Senator Robichaud: Is the same thing true for you?
Mr. Laberge: It is exactly the same thing. We have to work on income generating activities to make up the other aspects. We are receiving less funding from the province. We receive nothing for immigration. All the funding comes from CIC for the LINC program. Right now, we have no settlement counsellors who are funded.
So we are trying everything we can to ensure those services are available. We integrate immigrant services into all the other services. However, we are doing our best with the resources we have.
Senator Robichaud: Good for you!
Senator Rivard: I would like to come back to foreign students. Your two colleges welcome international students. Quebec and the other Canadian provinces attract foreign students, because those students have a hard time finding part-time jobs in their own countries. We all know how high the unemployment rates are in Belgium and France. However, in Canada, even though the jobs are not full time, there are more opportunities. Once those students finish school and graduate, we clearly hope that they settle here, because they are qualified and they are a significant asset for us.
You may not be able to give me an exact answer. However, to your knowledge, the number of students from your provinces who go and study in France and in Europe is probably much lower than the number of students we receive. You probably do not have the statistics for your provinces, but do you receive far more students than the students from Ontario or British Columbia who go to study in Europe?
Mr. Laberge: I do not have the numbers with me. However, there are more French WHP students who come here than Canadian WHP students who go to France. This year's quota of WHP students was reached in 30 minutes. However, the Canadian quota has not been reached yet, as far as I know.
In terms of the number of Canadian international students who go to France, I do not have the answer to that question.
Senator Rivard: Unfortunately, far more French students come to Quebec, even though university tuition fees are much higher for international students. The fees are also higher for someone from Ontario who goes to study in Quebec than for someone from Quebec.
In your respective provinces, are university tuition fees two or three times higher for an international student?
Mr. Riopel: I do not know.
Senator Rivard: My other questions have already been asked and you did a great job of answering them. Congratulations, and I hope that more and more students from Europe, Africa and other places come to your provinces. Then there will be even more francophones. The country is trying to be more and more bilingual.
I wish you every success, even though Quebec is competing to attract the best students — that is healthy competition.
Mr. Cantin: That is what Citizenship and Immigration Canada would like. Actually, the rules have changed and are supposed to be in effect in four or five days. Minister Alexander's wish is to keep them here. He says that we welcome them and train them. So why not keep them?
Senator Rivard: We must welcome the government's initiative, which, starting on June 1, will allow students to work with a view to helping them make a living. However, France does not return the favour. It is extremely difficult for Quebec francophone students who want to do an internship in France to survive. It is very challenging for them. We are working very hard to ensure that there is a reciprocal agreement and that we can welcome as many students as we are sending abroad.
Senator Chaput: I would like you to elaborate a bit more on the national target, this much touted target of 4.4 per cent that is problematic. Is this target realistic? Perhaps other actions could be taken to achieve it. Is it sufficient? Could you elaborate on this target, which is so important?
Mr. Laberge: That is a very good question. Is the target of 4.4 per cent feasible? I would not be able to tell you that. However, since I come from Alberta, I know that it was very difficult to attract francophone immigrants at the time. The situation has improved, but the challenge is still there.
We can talk about the target, but also about the successful strategies that will enable us to retain francophone immigrants. The crux of the issue is precisely recruitment and retention. From the college perspective, the policy enabling international students to work off campus is very important. That is a way to attract people. Perhaps in two or three years we will be talking about a resounding success in that area, which I sincerely hope is the case.
However, for those of us in an extreme minority situation, as I pointed out in my presentation, it is a bigger challenge to attract francophones to the economy, because this requires the knowledge of English. Given the new policy and the emphasis placed on economic integration, I hope that we will not undermine the success and the number of international students that we can attract.
Senator Chaput: In a minority situation and in a predominantly anglophone province such as mine — since I also come from Manitoba — it is difficult to retain francophone immigrants if they have not learned English and have not found a job, since they must work in English. Whether we like it or not, that is the reality, right?
Mr. Laberge: You are absolutely right. In addition, we are also noticing that some francophone immigrants, or so- called francophones, come from francophone countries. However, their schooling has sometimes been disrupted by war, for instance, and they had to seek refuge in a neighbouring anglophone country. I am specifically thinking about Africa and the Congo, for instance. When those people come here, they are often "semilingual". They know a bit of French and a bit of English, but they are fluent in neither. We need to address that issue and find a way to put in place a combined LINC/CLIC program to help them be more bilingual.
That is just a thought. There are not many individuals like that, but this might be a way to retain more of them.
Mr. Cantin: My answer has two parts. Let me first talk about the 4.4 per cent target. I think it is optimistic, even bold, but I hope that it will be achieved.
When Minister Alexander appeared 15 days ago, he talked to you about this target. For instance, he told you that the 1.8 per cent level had not been achieved, but we had just reached it. It took us years to reach 1.8 per cent, and now we want to reach 4.4 per cent by 2018. Let us keep our fingers crossed. The language requirement for candidates will be English primarily, because employers will do some sort of screening.
You mentioned communities; the same thing is true for London, Hamilton, Niagara, Barrie and the others: employers will require primarily level 7 English for some immigrants and level 5 for others.
Let us pair that with Ontario's target of 5 per cent, which is even bolder, and let us hope that we can put in place all the systems that can help us achieve it. Those systems can be provincial candidates. Perfect. That would give the province the opportunity to choose some candidates, but the quotas need to be increased because they are not sufficiently high right now. When we talk about 2,500 immigrants for the entire province, we are not just talking about francophones. The Canadian experience can also be very interesting in this sense.
In terms of language training, the minister told you the other day in his testimony, to which I listened very carefully, that immigrants should learn both official languages. He said that we should learn one official language perfectly and he added that learning both official languages perfectly would be beneficial for everyone. He also said that, for the time being, we would not be able to provide this training in both languages in every region, but that was coming. I hope so, because we have been asking for training in French and in English for a number of years. Unfortunately, our request has always been denied for budgetary, not political reasons. However, I think we have made a tremendous gain recently. In 2012, through our proposals, we managed to obtain the French-language CLIC and the English-language LINC at the same time in Toronto.
This is not official, but I hear that these silos — meaning that students registered in a LINC program cannot enrol in a CLIC program, and vice versa —will be disappearing soon. If this barrier is removed, we are very hopeful about being able to offer this dual program not only in Ontario, but across Canada, where immigrants will be able to learn both languages if that is the requirement they need to meet in order to get a rewarding job.
Senator Chaput: That might also help anglophone immigrants who come to Canada and wish to learn French, because we often talk about learning English to those who already speak French, but those who speak English only when they come to Canada should also have access to this training so that they can speak the other language.
Mr. Cantin: That is what we are offering in Toronto now. However, we require those people to have a certain level of French. We start at level three on the Canadian language competency levels. Nonetheless, we can then give them language training that allows them to achieve a comfort level in the French language that would allow them to function in the workplace without necessarily being perfectly bilingual.
Senator Chaput: Would that be a good recommendation to make?
Mr. Cantin: Absolutely, you would make us very happy.
[English]
Senator Oh: Thank you, gentlemen.
What percentage of our immigrants or students stay back to apply for Canadian citizenship, and what is the age group that you are bringing into Canada? You do mention that some of your students do not have English and French backgrounds.
Mr. Cantin: Absolutely. I cannot be very precise about that, but my feeling, and what I see, is that most of the immigrants coming to our centres want to have Canadian citizenship. They are aiming for that, and this is what they want.
Some of them, however, delay this process because they know that when they are becoming Canadian citizens, they are not allowed to have access to our LINC or CLIC programs anymore, but I would say the majority of them want to get their citizenship.
Their age is from, let's say, 12 years old until — I have two ladies, and they are coming from China; they are lovely. They are in their eighties, and they didn't speak a word of French or English. They are attending our LINC classes, and it's a privilege to have them. It's lovely to see them learning little by little. It takes time.
Senator Oh: You're probably aware that our system will be increased from 55 years old. Once you reach 55, you do not need to take the English test anymore; you can become a citizen. It's going to go up to 65.
Mr. Cantin: Exactly.
Senator Oh: Do you find it will be more difficult for a lot of people who at that age will not be able to learn a new language? One wants to speak fluently without an accent. Even I still speak with an accent.
Mr. Cantin: Yes, that's for sure. The test for citizenship is quite difficult, actually. I heard someone the other day — I don't remember the name, but he was a minister — say, "Well, if I had to take that test today, I would fail," so it's quite difficult.
Senator Oh: I heard that you're getting your students mostly from the African continent. Do you not take students from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos? They are all French-speaking countries.
Mr. Cantin: We have around 1,200 students per year. If you come to our centres, you will realize that it is actually the United Nations; they are coming from every country in the world.
Senator Oh: You are bringing them in as immigrants and not foreign students.
Mr. Cantin: We have both. Some are coming as international students, but for our settlement and language training programs, they are immigrants.
Senator Oh: What percentage succeed in becoming citizens? Do you have any idea?
Mr. Cantin: That's difficult to tell. I don't have the figures, the stats, but I would say that most of them will succeed in getting their citizenship. They are working hard, and when they get to level 4, 5 or 6, it's not a problem for them to pass the test.
Senator Oh: Students who are middle-aged and up, who have never learned French or English before, might have problems. To speak a new language is very difficult. They're having a lot of problems during the interview with the citizenship judge.
Mr. Cantin: Absolutely.
Senator Oh: Some of the citizenship judges have accents, too, so there was a problem.
Mr. Cantin: I would say for older immigrants and older people, it's getting to be more difficult.
[Translation]
The Acting Chair: I would like to go back to activities related to recruiting international students. Mr. Cantin, you mentioned that you had an executive director in charge of that. You also said that there were over 20 recruitment locations for international students. Are those 20 recruitment locations in Canada or outside? Have you targeted countries?
Mr. Riopel: I have been in the position since the beginning of September. When I reviewed the files of the college, it seemed to me that it would be very useful and appropriate for the college to offer this program somewhere other than in our province or our country.
Just now, I said that there was a mission to the Maghreb in November and that, in January, one or two employees went to Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, where they met with potential students. I am thinking of a relevant example. We had talks with government officials from Côte d'Ivoire who were looking for some mining expertise. Sudbury knows a bit about mines. We had great dialogue with them and we are in the process of signing an agreement to target some five or six young men who would come and get training tailored to their country's needs. Those are the initiatives we have implemented internationally over the past seven or eight months.
The Acting Chair: Do you do things by delegation?
Mr. Riopel: Yes.
The Acting Chair: Mr. Laberge, since you are from Vancouver, British Columbia, do you recruit people from the Asia-Pacific region?
Mr. Laberge: Not right now. We recruit very few people from outside Canada, because we do not yet have the resources to do so. We have participated in Destination Canada on a number of occasions. That allowed us to recruit some students through the process or through work and travel visas. That enabled us to forge ties and partnerships with French institutions. Among others, a group from Tourcoing came here last year; a dozen French students came for six months. Of the 12 who came, two stayed and are still here, I believe. The new system will make it possible to recruit international students. I strongly believe that. Our intent is to optimize our recruiting strategies outside the country.
Mr. Cantin: Yes, the recruitment of international students is something new for post-secondary francophone institutions. Anglophone colleges have been doing it for a number of years. It is definitely very important for us to recruit these students, because we want them to enrich our communities and stay here to contribute to the Canadian economy.
However, the challenge is to ensure that, when they come here, they can also learn English, because they will usually work in minority communities where English is a must. With CIC, we have managed to have a post-secondary LINC program in Toronto. The program is therefore offered to our immigrant students; as a result, they have access to LINC, Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada. This gives them the opportunity to improve their English skills while taking the post-secondary training on which they have chosen to build their lives or future.
The Acting Chair: Perhaps I should not ask you this question, but can you tell us whether foreign students are better than, the same as, or not as good as Canadian students?
Mr. Cantin: If we were in the United States, I would take the fifth amendment. Simply put, I would say that it depends.
The Acting Chair: They want to study. When they come here, they want to succeed.
Mr. Cantin: You know, they are paying a lot of money; they are very motivated.
Senator Robichaud: Mr. Cantin, you said something that intrigues me. You were talking about the two programs. The English program is LINC, but what is the French program?
Mr. Cantin: CLIC, Cours de langue pour immigrants au Canada.
Senator Robichaud: You are saying that they are in two silos. You either work in one or the other.
Mr. Cantin: Yes.
Senator Robichaud: You are saying that people will be able to switch between the two at some point. That bothers me a bit because we already have a very hard time retaining people in the francophone community. If I were an immigrant and I had the opportunity to learn either one language or another, I would choose English if I were in a community where the jobs are in an English-speaking environment.
How will that help the francophone community?
Mr. Cantin: Many people who have enrolled in our LINC courses come from African countries and still need to improve their knowledge of French. In some African countries, the education system is francophone, but the quality of French is sometimes lacking. They would need a little support to reach level five, six or seven to meet the requirements of CLIC. For the time being, they are limited to learning English and they cannot improve their French skills, which they probably need. They need to improve. That would also allow people who want to learn French, francophiles, to come and enrich our francophone communities once they have learned French. I am saying this is a win-win situation. Francophone immigrants who learn English, but need support to learn French, will be able to do so, although this is not allowed at the moment.
We received the good news on January 29, 2014, at the National Language Advisory Body where CIC presented, so to speak, an upcoming policy entitled "Supporting a framework for language minority communities." In that presentation, we heard this delightful statement: "Soon, we do not know when, but soon, you will be able to provide the two programs without silos." That will benefit both francophone immigrants who need to improve their French and anglophone immigrants who want to learn French, because they need it for their career paths.
Senator Robichaud: Please understand that I am not against it.
Mr. Cantin: I do not think that you are against it either.
Senator Robichaud: As the saying goes, the more the merrier. The more people learn to speak French and learn both languages, the better we will get along.
Mr. Laberge, you ended your presentation by saying that you would like the authorities to encourage direct integration. You both said that there were various aspects under the responsibility of various groups and institutions, and that you were losing people. Is there some resistance to this direct integration and what is it? You are both in favour of direct integration, right?
Mr. Laberge: We have recently submitted a proposal for multiple immigration services to Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We are going to provide the LINC training. We have not been able to get a settlement counsellor. I do not know the reasons for that decision, but I would like to make it clear that we do not consider post- secondary training institutions only as providers of training services in the immigration context. I think we have an important role to play in connecting employers and immigrants, because our work is connected to the labour market. The training that we offer, especially at college level, leads to a profession.
I think the same thing can apply to settlement services. Earlier I gave you the example of two people whom we were able to retain and who are still with us. I think this is a key element and we must communicate our wish, as well as the ability of our colleges to deliver direct settlement services.
Mr. Cantin: That is an excellent question. If I may, I will answer in 30 seconds. I am actually very passionate about this question, because we have seen that — and that is exactly why we asked it in 2012 — sometimes, because they do not know, some organizations that provide settlement services do not refer immigrants to us. Sometimes, they do not know about our programs or they are not aware of our reality. Their recommendation to francophone immigrants might even be to go to Fanshawe College, saying that they are already managing pretty well and they will have no problems being integrated. That bothers us a lot.
Earlier, we were talking about the mission of the college being twofold. The goal is not just education, but also the vitality of our francophone communities. We cover 85 per cent of Ontario; imagine all the minority communities we are serving. It is incredible. If we lose immigrants who make our francophone communities richer, we lose something very important. Often, we cannot get them back. We lose them and they are gone.
By providing those services directly — and we have an opportunity to do so in three centres: Mississauga, Windsor- Essex-Kent and London-Middlesex — strangely enough, we now have far more referrals to our literacy programs, our post-secondary programs, our employment services programs, and so on. We do not lose any of them, because, once we receive them, we direct them to the francophone institutions or the programs they need.
Rest assured, if we feel that it would be more beneficial for them and for their careers to register for an anglophone program, we have no qualms about recommending it. However, we would only do so as a last resort if we saw that we cannot ultimately serve them.
That is what pushed us, so to speak, to go in this direction with the support of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, which was a bit skeptical; however, the results are amazing. I think it is safe to say that we have significantly increased the number of enrollments and referrals not only to our programs, but also to the francophone organizations and institutions in our community, whether in community centres, other institutions that look after health services, and so on.
That is why Yvon and I are talking about it so often. It is our pet issue. We hope that CIC will support us in this.
Senator Robichaud: Do you have a recommendation that you would like to see in our report?
Mr. Cantin: Yvon had one. I love your question. Senator Champagne asked Minister Alexander the same question and this is what he answered: "Yes, the formula for success. This is our formula for success."
Senator Robichaud: The minister's own words.
Mr. Cantin: Yes, the minister's own words, can you imagine? Our formula for success is sort of what we are proposing, meaning that the integration services are under the same roof with the help of this one-stop shop formula. We do not have to do it all ourselves; we also want community partners to participate. Through joint efforts, awareness can be raised, because community organizations are working together. We are no longer talking about competition, we are talking about cooperation and partnership.
Mr. Laberge: I completely agree with my colleague. I strongly believe in the holistic model or the integrated model. I may not completely agree with the idea of doing everything under one roof, but I believe in a structure able to deliver the various levels of service through an integrated approach so that immigrants have a seamless experience, if I may call it that.
Senator Robichaud: Would you have the means to provide these services right now?
Mr. Cantin: The integrated services?
Senator Robichaud: Yes.
Mr. Cantin: We provide them.
Senator Robichaud: You talked about three communities.
Mr. Cantin: Yes, three communities, but we would be easily ready to provide them in all the communities we are serving. It is a question of budget, however; of course, it is a question of money. If we had the necessary funding the way we do right now for these three regions, we would have no problems providing the services. Dare I say that this would not necessarily cost a fortune?
Mr. Laberge: If the money were provided, we would be ready, willing and able, as the saying goes.
Senator Chaput: With the recent changes to the immigration system, you have been forced to become, whether you like it or not, a key player in the immigration system. I am talking about universities and community colleges. There are a number of players. Would you have one recommendation for us to ensure better cooperation between all the players of the immigration system and you? One recommendation.
Mr. Laberge: That is a very good question. If you have an answer, I would like to think about it.
Mr. Cantin: Let me go back to what I said earlier. The recommendation that we would make is to enable us to have an integrated system of institutions that simultaneously meet the needs of immigrants, the training needs, and especially the needs of francophone communities who count on these immigrants for their vitality. The expression "one-stop shop" can be irritating sometimes. It has not always been popular as an idea, but the results speak for themselves. I suggest that you recommend greater cooperation between the various groups, with this participatory, community one-stop shop formula, as I like to call it. We do not necessarily want the whole pie, but we would like to be eating the pie at the same table.
Mr. Laberge: I agree with you. In fact, as I said earlier, I think it is important to provide immigrants with a number of doorways so that they can access services. It is important to get together and to work together to open as many doors as possible.
Having said that, I also think it is important to recognize that the idea is to meet the needs of individuals. They are not statistics or clients; they are individuals with families who are seeking a better life in Canada. We need to emphasize this and see how we can provide them with the best possible services.
I stress the word "service" because not everyone can provide services or can do a good job of providing services. We must rely more on francophone institutions that have this experience and ability, and that have a proven track record.
The Acting Chair: I have one final question for Ms. Jean-Paul.
In your presentation, you talked about helping immigrants to find and keep jobs. Could you elaborate on the challenges or the major successes you have noticed?
Ms. Jean-Paul: This is my second year on Collège Boréal's board of directors. The example that I can give you is the Compétences Boréal program. This initiative was developed as a one-stop shop that leads by example and specific situations. Its purpose is to allow all students and new immigrants to acquire skills to look for jobs. We help them prepare their résumés and we do mock interviews. The way you present yourself is a skill that you need to acquire in order to land a job. This program really got my attention when I started my term on the board.
I have noticed the demographic changes in the South Centre region. I live in Toronto. Francophone immigration and the new demographics just happened. I noticed it when I moved from Quebec six years ago. It is interesting to walk around downtown Toronto and hear French. Something really special is happening.
Educational institutions must be able to provide services that go beyond simple education. We must help these immigrants develop skills and tools that help them integrate and become full-fledged citizens of our country.
That is what I have experienced, what I have seen and observed. A few weeks ago, while we were doing some strategic planning with the board, it was nice to see the comments from the staff, students and immigrants of the college to our officials here and professors. As teachers and administrators, we now have to see what this will mean in terms of the programs and services that will be available soon. I hope it will be equally successful.
The Acting Chair: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your presentations. That was very interesting. Your contributions and your valuable recommendations will help us as we prepare our report.
Let me thank you once again.
(The committee adjourned.)