Francisation still too often rhymes with disappointment

From the moment when, last month, François Legault said he was aiming for 100% Francophone economic immigration by 2026, his idea was qualified by some of his ministers.

First there was the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, who got involved. You “have to be realistic and balance that with the needs” of employers, he said.

It was then the turn of the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette, to rectify the situation. She referred to French-speaking immigration… or from “Francotropic” countries. We are talking here about countries that have affinities with French.

These details show that we quickly understood, at the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), that showing dogmatism in this matter would be a very bad idea.

Basically, however, the desire to welcome more immigrants who speak French should be welcomed.

One of the objectives of immigration to Quebec is to contribute to the survival of French. And year after year, we realize that the results, in this regard, are not satisfactory enough.

Even recent efforts to raise the bar in terms of francization have not yet allowed Quebec to obtain a passing grade.

This is the (hard) observation that we are forced to make when reading the report by our journalist Suzanne Colpron on this subject, published last Sunday.

For the year 2021-2022, only 43.5% of non-French-speaking immigrants participated in the francization services offered by Quebec.

However, the objective was to reach 60%. It missed. And by far.

Nor will we surely reach the objective for the current year, set at 65%.

Of course, there are many success stories, each more remarkable than the next. But the fact remains that by virtue of our expectations, francization still too often rhymes with disappointment.

It is not, however, that the CAQ has not tried.

During its first mandate, the government of François Legault put forward several initiatives with the aim of increasing participation in francization courses (above all: broadening access and improving the allowance offered).

It is reported that the overall number of immigrants taking French courses has increased. But it must be said that the pool of newcomers is larger than it was in the past.

So yes, the effort of the CAQ must be underlined. Yes, we must remember that it is not finished, since we promised to create a one-stop shop for francization services in the middle of next year.

Nevertheless, the balance sheet, for the moment, is disappointing. Giving up is not an option, however.

To think of reaching 100% of economic immigrants who already speak French, it will be understood, is to dream in color.

Not to mention that it is impossible to require fluency in French for immigrants who are part of the family reunification category and that of refugees (they represent approximately one-third of newcomers to Quebec each year).

But solutions exist.

For example, we should increase even more the allowances offered to those who take the courses, which are currently equivalent to an hourly rate of $5.85. Just as we need more flexibility in schedules.

And it is absolutely necessary to increase francization in the workplace. Inexplicably, it does not seem obvious to Quebec.

Last September, the Peerless company even had to fight to keep the subsidy that allowed it to offer French lessons to its employees! We are swimming in delirium!

A government cannot claim that curbing the decline of French is a priority for it and tolerate such inconsistencies for much longer.