Senators' Statements

Honourable senators, in every region in Canada we are celebrating National Francophone Immigration Week, an opportunity for us to create and strengthen ties between Francophone immigrants and host communities who care deeply about the French language.

This year, the fifth annual National Francophone Immigration Week is taking place under the theme “One language, a thousand accents, a diversity that unites us”. It identifies promoting francophone immigration as a government priority, and notes the strong link between francophone immigration and the vitality of Canada’s official languages.

Last week, Statistics Canada released the highlights of the 2016 census on immigration and ethno-cultural diversity, confirming the fact that, currently, 2.6 per cent of newcomers living outside Quebec have French as their primary spoken official language, which is well below the government’s target for 2018, which was to have at least 4 per cent of francophone newcomers among all economic immigrants living outside Quebec.

According to that same Statistics Canada publication, 21.9 per cent of the Canadian population declared being or having been an immigrant or a permanent resident of Canada, which is comparable to the highest recorded rate in our history at 22.3 per cent in 1921. More than one in five people, or 21.9 per cent of the Canadian population, were born abroad. If Statistics Canada’s projections prove to be accurate, by 2036 between 24 and 30 per cent of the Canadian population will declare having been born abroad.

It is quite clear that immigration will play a decisive role in Canada’s demographic future, and we are counting on measures from this government to ensure fair proportionality, which will enhance the vitality of francophone and Acadian communities outside Quebec by supporting their development in a concrete and active manner.

In that regard, we welcome the approach taken by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, which announced its plans to develop a separate strategy to promote francophone immigration from 2018 to 2023. We will also pay close attention to the multi-year immigration plan that the minister will be announcing today.

Honourable senators, during this National Francophone Immigration Week, let’s reflect on how we can support the development of our official language minority communities and recognize the value and richness of the contributions made by newcomers to the vitality of our communities. We are a nation of immigrants. Let’s break down barriers and make sure that our country is increasingly inclusive and united. Thank you.