Almost absent from political discourse until recently, temporary immigrants are now emerging in the public space because of the language they speak… or don’t speak. As the CAQ government prepares to announce immigration reforms aimed at attracting more French-speaking candidates, The duty put the temporaries under his magnifying glass. In this text: where do they come from and what languages are they likely to speak?
“We cannot tolerate that they anglicize Quebec,” the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, recently declared of temporary immigrants. The next day, Prime Minister François Legault said he was “concerned” by the increase in the number of temporary workers and affirmed that he was considering imposing French language requirements on this category of immigrants.
The figure of 346,000 temporary workers was then mentioned; this is the stock of non-permanent residents, i.e. the number of people with a permit with an expiry date who were in the territory at the beginning of 2023. Quebec thus experienced in 2022 its strongest annual growth of the last 50 years, driven in large part by the increase in temporary immigration, according to the demographic report of the Institute of Statistics of Quebec published on Wednesday.
They are not currently subject to French language requirements upon arrival. However, to obtain permanent residence, knowledge of the language is essential. The two largest programs for economic immigrants in Quebec do indeed have language criteria.
For the Québec experience program, which is aimed directly at temporary workers and foreign students, an intermediate level certificate (B2 or level 7) is mandatory.
As for the Regular Skilled Worker Program, it works by points, rather than by eliminatory criteria. However, knowledge of French gives more points compared to the other criteria: a maximum level would be worth, for example, 180 points, which is more than four years’ work experience (100 points) or a doctorate (90 points).
“What we can notice is that in fact, in proportion, temporary workers are less likely than economic immigrants to already know French before arriving,” notes Stéphanie Arsenault, professor of social work at Laval University. In a recent study, however, she concluded that temporary immigrants are often “too captive” to their jobs to obtain the level of French required by Quebec.
But it’s not a lack of will, observes the researcher: “These people want to learn French because they see in their daily lives that they need it. As much “to do their job to the best of their skills” as to “progress professionally” and socialize, temporary workers would willingly embark on francization, according to his research.
Organizations “are not lacking in temporary workers who wish to make the effort to become French,” reports Claudine Uwingabiye, team leader of the francization component for the organization Accueil liaison pour arrives. Alone, they form 90% of the classes offered thanks to funding from Quebec, assesses this manager. In a few days, for example, more than 400 people registered for the next summer session.
Obstacles
However, financial needs come before francization for many of these temporary workers, especially asylum seekers, says Ms.me Uwingabiye. “They often have quite pressing needs and so they leave when they receive their work permit,” she explains. Sometimes to come back, sometimes not. She points out that they are not entitled to financial allowances for francization or to subsidized childcare services.
“Even if French became their priority, beyond meeting their basic needs, they would still have to have access to it,” notes Aline Lechaume, professor in the Department of Industrial Relations at Université Laval. . In several regions, francization places are not sufficient to meet the demand and the wait for registration is therefore long. Or the learning centers are far from the place of residence, and the temporary immigrants do not necessarily have a means of transport.
“There are no constraints for businesses either,” notes the specialist. How do you release employees at times when they are willing to learn the language if there are few incentives?
“What matters for the majority of temporary workers is the availability of time”, also remarks Mme Arsenault.
Their license obliges them to devote themselves full time either to studies or to work. “It is not allowed to reduce the hours to devote oneself to learning”, recalls Mme Arsenault, who sees it as the main obstacle, even for foreign students.
During his research, however, several temporary immigrants mentioned that they would like to be able to reduce their working hours, for example, for a few weeks or months to devote more time to francization. Others say on the contrary that their pay would not be enough for them if they had to reduce their hours.