No one but francophones after 2026
François Legault is promising that immigration will be 100% francophone by 2026. It’s to be one of the two pillars of his new government, and probably the more important, the other being transitioning Quebec to a green economy. Numbers from Statistics Canada showing a slight drop in the use of French in business and even a slight decline in the regions are fuel to Legault’s fire.
DeWolf 13:49 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Quebec’s top 10 sources of immigration over the past decade: China, France, Algeria, Haiti, Morocco, Iran, Syria, Cameroon, India and Colombia, in that order.
So new immigration will be restricted to people from… France?
PatrickC 14:07 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Not necessarily francophone, says Christine Fréchette, but at least “francotrope”–meaning people from Romance language countries who will find the transition to French easier. Now there’s a scholarly category! But I love the word, which I’m sure has a bright future.
mare 14:24 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
@DeWolf Immigrants from Algérie, Haïti, Maroc et Cameroun are considered francophone. We only want the educated ones (brain drain be damned) even though their professional credentials aren’t recognized here, and a lot of our workforce shortages are in jobs that don’t need higher education.
The law and anti-immigrant discourse is working in other aspects though. I’m seriously thinking of leaving the province, and I bet I’m not the only one. Finding the perfect place (for me) is hard though, my excel sheet with pros and cons is getting very convoluted.
DeWolf 14:33 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Of course. It’s just a chance for Legault to score some political points from the more hateful corners of the province.
Most immigrants selected by Quebec already come from “francotrope” countries, with the notable exceptions of China and India. And as Pierre Fitzgibbon specified today, there will be exceptions for people whose expertise is needed, even if they don’t speak French. China and India will probably remain major sources of immigrants. So we’re basically maintaining the status quo.
That just means we can look forward to another round of xenophobic grandstanding in five years when the next census results reveal the proportion of francophones has continued to decline, because “francotrope” people from Morocco and Vietnam are literally not francophones, and are not counted as such in the census.
Anyway, just another day in CAQistan!
DeWolf 14:44 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
@mare, You would really uproot your life in Montreal because of provincial politics?
Spi 15:15 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Francophone or not doesn’t matter if the yard stick is going to be % of households that speak French at home.
It doesn’t matter how well you’re able to speak French or integrate if you’re from Haiti and speak Creole at home or Algeria/Morocco and raise your children to speak some Arabic according to the stats that Legault cares about you’re activelly hurting French.
Seemingly what Legault wants is a household that consists of people that speak only French amongst themselves but pointing that out leads to all sorts of nasty questions he’d have to answer.
shawn 15:16 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Grateful for this thread. I hope we all stick it out.
Kate 15:29 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
Spi, the one thing Legault is trying hard not to do is to urge women from French‑speaking families to have more babies. I’m sure he’d love to, but somebody in his cabinet has warned him he can’t get away with that now.
In fact, I recall a previous government doing this thing where you got modest payments for your first and second child, but a much larger payment for child #3 and beyond. Is that still in effect?
Kevin 16:56 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
A politician that really thinks this is an important issue could change attitudes, but it would require a lot of work. You’d need a government and civil servants that value excellence and competence. You’d need the creation of daycare spots and schools. You’d need family doctors. You’d need a substantial baby bonus, scholarship funds/RESPs, and parental leave. You’d need developers to build family-sized units.
Said politician would have to drum up that support and present it as a national project to improve everyone’s lives, to deliver purpose and optimism.
But as long as the politicians focus on negatives, as long as people continue to feel economically uncertain, Quebecers will continue to have small families and seek out that comfortable suburban bedroom community.
Chris 16:59 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
>…We only want the educated ones…
You know that’s the federal policy priority too, right?
>my excel sheet with pros and cons is getting very convoluted
Does your sheet have an entry for countries more accepting of immigrants than Canada? I’m curious which you’ve found. Genuinely.
Mark Côté 17:23 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
> In fact, I recall a previous government doing this thing where you got modest payments for your first and second child, but a much larger payment for child #3 and beyond. Is that still in effect?
It seems the amount is fixed per child, though the table is weird as it splits “1st child” and “2nd child and subsequent children” into single rows despite the number being the same—maybe a throwback to a time where 2+ children did result in a higher benefit.
Mark Côté 23:40 on 2022-11-30 Permalink
@Chris: mare said leaving the province, not the country.
Ephraim 09:19 on 2022-12-01 Permalink
You would think that a businessman would understand diversity and that you hire the best person for the job, regardless. Nope, we don’t want the best immigrants, we want immigrants who can speak to Moliere.