It is “crucial” that Franco-Ontarians integrate Francophones from immigrant backgrounds to deal with the labor shortage, supports the Assembly of the Francophonie of Ontario (AFO), which presented Wednesday a new “state of affairs”.
“The shortage of French-speaking and bilingual labor is the greatest challenge facing the sustainability of our services in Ontario,” declared the president of the AFO, Fabien Hébert.
This lack of personnel, which is concentrated in “key sectors”, prevents us from having the resources “necessary to deliver services in French”. This can manifest itself in the impossibility of enrolling children in a French-language childcare center, since there are “not enough educators”, or even in a difficulty in “being understood” or “well understand the instructions” of a healthcare professional.
And the potential succession threatens to diminish, warns the AFO. According to analyzes of Statistics Canada data, conducted by the firm Brynaert, Brennan&Associé.es, a “drop of approximately 6% in the number of Francophones of post-secondary education age is expected by 2030,” while a “general decline in the birth rate among French speakers [est observée] In every region “.
It is “undeniable” that “French-speaking international student workers are essential to the sustainability of our communities,” says Mr. Hébert. Their “integration” is “crucial”, he maintains. “In the coming years, the majority of people integrating into the French or bilingual labor market in Ontario will come from immigration. »
An unexploited basin
“The labor shortage […] had been announced for a long time,” recalls Jonathan Naisby, of the firm Brynaert, Brennan&Associé.es, which wrote the study. “French-speaking minority communities are no exception to reality,” and the “availability of Francophone and bilingual labor is limited by several factors, such as the aging of the population, the low birth rate, “exodus of young people towards large urban centers or linguistic assimilation”.
According to the analysis, the sectors most affected are “those requiring an active offer, namely health, education, as well as public services”. In some of them, the “aging of the population and retirements which will intensify in the coming years” create “a perverse effect where the people who leave their jobs for retirement are the same ones who will ask for more services in French,” we can read in the document. The AFO therefore recommends that organizations and institutions implement a “proactive strategy” to “prevent knowledge and skills from leaving with new retirees”.
Mr. Naisby also points out that the “pool of potential candidates to fill positions that require French remains largely untapped,” since “only one in three Ontario workers who have some knowledge of French” uses the language “at least regularly at work “.
Not enough students
The number of students in French-speaking post-secondary institutions could also increase if more rights holders attended these institutions. According to the second study commissioned by the AFO, approximately 25% of students with French as their mother tongue go to an English-speaking college. “At university, it’s about 30%,” says Naisby.
He adds that almost “a third of children entitled to instruction in French do not attend a French-language school”, and become “much less likely to continue their post-secondary studies” in the language of Molière.
“The number of students in French-speaking school boards has a downward trend from one school year to another,” we can read in the study, particularly when they leave French-speaking elementary school to study in English at secondary school. Many French immersion students also turn to English-speaking universities, which they associate with more “notoriety” or a less “restricted” offering of courses and programs.
However, the programs of French-speaking post-secondary institutions are “well aligned with the needs of the labor market,” the study concludes. But they can’t accommodate enough students. “There is clearly not enough space in nursing schools to make up for the shortfall in institutions,” Mr. Hébert gives as an example.
The AFO hopes that this new data “will be valuable to (its) government and organizational partners.” “We are going to sit down with our partners, […] then from now on, we develop strategies. »
This report is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.