Not so fast before increasing the immigration thresholds in Quebec, says the French language commissioner, Benoît Dubreuil. It will first be necessary for a sufficient number of newcomers to use French at work and in public spaces.
In Quebec on Wednesday to participate in consultations on multi-year immigration planning, the “watchdog” of the French language in Quebec called for “caution” in the matter of admission targets for new arrivals. An increase is even unjustifiable before 2026, he told the parliamentary press.
“I think we must avoid, as we have done in the past, saying that we are going to have an increase in the thresholds, then waiting for the next census to see where the figures are,” said he said in a press scrum, a few minutes after presenting a series of recommendations to the Minister of Immigration, Christine Fréchette.
Mr. Dubreuil encourages the Quebec government to set a new objective for the use of French by immigrants at work and in public spaces – he sets the bar at 85% – and to make the increase in thresholds conditional on the achieving this target. In his eyes, the scenario of an increase to 60,000 immigrants per year that Minister Fréchette proposes will have to wait.
“What is proposed by the ministry is to start [la hausse] potentially from 2025. For me, it could be in 2026, but assuming that we reach the target,” said Mr. Dubreuil, who has been in office since the beginning of the year.
However, Quebec is currently more or less 20 percentage points away from meeting the commissioner’s ambitious objective. A “wake-up call”, according to him. The tightening of French requirements for economic immigrants that Minister Fréchette plans will still reduce this gap by half, estimates Mr. Dubreuil.
In addition to studying an increase to 60,000 new arrivals per year, Quebec is evaluating the possibility of maintaining the thresholds at current levels (50,000). Asked about Commissioner Dubreuil’s recommendations, Minister Fréchette said she was “listening” on Wednesday.
“Mr. Dubreuil comes with a proposal that is innovative, original, which would lead us to stay between the two scenarios,” she said in the press scrum, before adding that “it is certain that it is easier to work with one of our two scenarios.”
Further details will follow.