Quebec and Canada will experience in the coming years what I call the “great disruption in immigration” not to be confused with the “great replacement” inspired by racist far-right ideologies. Personally, I am in favor of immigration and the arrival of newcomers. I devoted ten years of voluntary work to a foundation in the Quebec region.
Has Canada become a mere automated teller machine for labour?
Unfortunately, the debate on the capacity to welcome immigrants to Quebec got off to a bad start. Indeed, the future immigration policy in Canada, the objective of which is to welcome 100 million citizens by 2100, convinced me that the Quebec nation has become invisible when it comes to defining the needs of the Immigration Canada. I have the impression that Canada has become a simple automated teller machine for labour.
Limited capacity
However, our reception capacity is not unlimited, if only in terms of housing, day care centres, schools, health services and, of course, training in French. Already more than 350,000 temporary immigrants come to Quebec (seasonal workers and students) without any requirement to learn our so-called “national” language. Added to the chaos created in Montreal to welcome the tens of thousands of refugees from Roxham Road, a practical lesson that should serve as a model to avoid in terms of reception capacity.
The Quebec government’s policy of welcoming 50,000 permanent immigrants per year is not enough and condemns us to becoming marginal as a nation, especially since the federal government aims to reach the goal of 500,000 newcomers per year by 2025. We currently represent 22% of the population and at this rate we will quickly fall to 10% of the Canadian population. So let’s forget Canada founded by two nations, one of French-speaking origin and the other English-speaking. This symbol of false linguistic equality has become a great joke and a smokescreen aimed at making Francophones believe that they are as important as King Charles III as head of state ruling Canada, without power or respect.
An invisible nation, unless…
Quebec nation
The Canadian constitution of 1982 blocked any form of adaptation to protect the French language both in Quebec and in Canada where we have become at most a folkloric symbol which distinguishes us as a country from our powerful American neighbor.
How did we come to no longer exist as a Quebec nation?
Simply because we fear to disturb, we lack self-confidence when it comes to asserting ourselves as a distinct nation. Our political leaders know this and exploit our weakness in every election. Anyway, all of our political leaders are slipping away (except the Bloc Québécois and the PQ) on the pretext that the Canadian constitution cannot be amended. However, Quebec has never sanctioned it, so we are not morally bound to this constitution which denies our collective identity existence.
The only long-term solution to protect our collective identity is to have the National Assembly adopt a Quebec constitution that would recognize the Quebec nation and its citizenship, its francophone and secular culture while recognizing the Aboriginal nations and their cultures. Thus all powers in matters of immigration and citizenship would be vested in the National Assembly of Quebec. If the federal government refuses to transfer these identity powers, we should have this constitution adopted by referendum and unilaterally declare, if necessary, the political independence of the Quebec nation.
Photo provided by Jean Baillargeon
Jean Baillargeon, Consultant in strategic communication