I am an adopted Quebecer. I have lived in Quebec for almost 12 years. And right now, the debate on immigration taking place in Quebec shames me. I was lucky enough to go to school in Quebec from elementary school and to have a very caring teacher. In addition, I was lucky enough to have a French teacher, Ms.me Mireille. She came once a week to teach two other immigrant colleagues and me vocabulary words as well as a little grammar.
I arrived in Quebec on February 17, 2012. I started school in March. All this attention to which I was entitled meant that in June, I was doing very well in French. My parents were lucky to have been able to find accommodation quickly and at an affordable price. It was located opposite the primary school and near a bus stop. Affordable, while meeting our needs!
It was 2012, barely 12 years ago. However, what I am saying seems to be light years from reality today. Today, we do not have enough staff to Frenchify our new arrivals. I feel bad for these children who enter primary school without mastering French correctly. They must feel excluded, without speaking the language.
Today, many parents, immigrants or not, go out of their way to have a home. The demographic situation has changed a lot since 2012. We are not building enough. According to the Quebec Demographic Report, in 2012, there were nearly 60,000 new arrivals (permanent and temporary) for nearly 50,000 housing starts. Ten years later, in 2022, the gap explodes: 150,000 new arrivals for 57,107 housing starts.
Are we welcoming too many newcomers? Have we exceeded our reception capacity? For me, we exceed reception capacity as soon as we can no longer welcome each new arrival with dignity. If I had the right to a French teacher, all young children from immigrant backgrounds should have the right to one. If my parents were lucky enough to find housing that met their needs quickly and at an affordable price, all parents should be entitled to it.
Are there no longer enough resources for francization or housing? Perfect, let’s try to solve the problem, but let’s make sure that everyone who arrives doesn’t lack anything, and it’s certainly not by increasing the thresholds that it’s going to help. Besides, that’s what economists say.
My wish is that all my fellow Quebecers by adoption can benefit from the same attention as me and that their integration process is successful, that they feel at home in Quebec. This is why I, a Quebecer with an immigrant background, add my voice to all those who propose lowering the thresholds: simply because it is the mission of the host society to create favorable conditions for integration. new arrivals.
Can we say that this mission is accomplished when we know that we do not currently have the capacity to offer each of the new arrivals affordable housing that meets their needs?
And let’s stop with the accusations of intolerance towards Quebecers who want to lower the thresholds. The average Quebecer is warm and welcoming. In the current circumstances, wanting to lower the thresholds is something entirely rational, while being the recommendation of economists. If wanting to lower the thresholds insults some people, even though I have an immigrant background, it doesn’t insult me. What shames me is that those who call people intolerant harm the integration of our adopted fellow citizens by encouraging them to distrust people. And we will know that distrust does not help integration.
But we love them so much that we want them all to feel at home here. We see them as full-fledged citizens. We want them to adopt Quebec and its culture. And as a welcoming society, it is a responsibility towards newcomers that we cannot compromise, even if we are called names.