The Legault government has just announced the creation of Francisation Québec as of 1er June, as provided for in Bill 96 — the Act respecting the official and common language of Quebec, French. It is a one-stop shop bringing together all francization services, services that are expected to diversify.
Under this same law, it is no longer just immigrants who arrived five years ago or less who are entitled to free French lessons, but anyone domiciled in Quebec, whether unilingual English Canadians or temporary foreign workers, of which we know that a significant proportion do not speak French. An exception is obviously made for children of school age, who are cared for by the school.
Particular attention will be paid to training offered in the workplace, the poor relation of the francization offer. In addition, French language initiation activities have been planned for preschoolers.
Since the devastating report of the Auditor General of Quebec, Guylaine Leclerc, in 2017, on the francization program of the Ministry of Immigration under the Liberals, the Legault government has substantially increased the amounts allocated to this mission. Thus, the budget for francization services went from $94 million when the Coalition avenir Québec came to power to $218 million. In 2023-2024, the increase was 17% compared to the previous year.
During a press conference on Monday, the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Christine Fréchette, who was accompanied by the Minister of the French Language, Jean-François Roberge, pointed out that francization was experiencing a “craze”. Thus, the number of people registered for a course to learn French increased by 16% in 2021-2022, and by another 25% last year, to reach 47,000. the side. The scarcity of teachers, which this “craze” will not fail to exacerbate, does not seem to worry the minister.
In 2017, the Auditor General found that less than a third of newcomers who did not know French enrolled in francization courses, and that the failure or dropout rates were catastrophic. She noted a lack of uniformity between the training provided by department teachers in the premises of community groups, that provided by the school network and the courses that passed through the Department of Employment and Social Solidarity. Following the courses of the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) entitles you to financial aid, while the same immigrant who studies in the school network is deprived of it.
Thus, the offer of francization services is always variable in geometry. Despite herself, Minister Fréchette illustrated these disparities when the journalist from Duty asked her about the waiting times affecting francization. Fifty working days, she replied, while the delays are much longer in the school network, according to what the community reports.
Long awaited, the establishment of this one-stop shop can help harmonize francization services and eliminate inequities. What is more, this harmonization should enable the authorities to collect uniform data in order to assess the situation and evaluate the results. Because of the various paths that lead to francization, the MIFI does not have an overall picture and cannot judge the effectiveness of the program, any more today than when the Auditor General’s report was tabled. six years ago.
One of the major objectives of this new centralized structure is to develop the offer of francization in business, which is certainly one of the best ways for immigrant workers or Anglophone workers to learn French or perfect their .
In this regard, Francisation Québec will “experiment” with different scenarios between now and the 1er november. “French initiation activities” will be designed for small businesses — convenience stores and other small businesses, for example. We will set up short training courses given during paid hours so that workers can understand the instructions in French intended for them. Finally, we think of francization courses, say, classic 300 hours which “will ensure a measurable progression of the levels of language proficiency”, can we read in the press release issued by the minister’s office.
If we speak here of “measurable” progress, it means that the MIFI will be able to be satisfied with results that are not. The right to learn French is also the right to learn it at your own pace, we must understand. Also, the Minister will have to tell us how she intends to evaluate the performance of the new entity.