The federal government has just passed its reform of the Official Languages Act. In theory, there should be more protection for French. In practice, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The figures just compiled by the Institut du Québec concerning foreign students are a real affront to French. Among applicants already accepted by a university and a province, those who speak French and register for studies in French are two and a half times more likely to be refused by the federal government.
However, it is the federal government that has the last word. A foreign student candidate needs his federal visa to set foot in Canada even if everything else is accepted.
The federal government refuses 20% of applications in English and 50% of those in French. It is answered that it is a coincidence due to other factors. At one point, the federal monks had even blamed it on computer software. It’s funny, I’m convinced that if the opposite happened, there would be an outcry in English Canada and things would change in one season.
Quebec losing
The impact in Quebec is obvious. Anglophone universities like McGill and Concordia are filling up with Anglophone students. Francophone universities share the rest. This is another source of anglicization of Quebec, this time via the universities.
The federal government has already announced a desire to narrow the gap between the acceptance of French-speaking and English-speaking students. But honestly, with the numbers we see, it’s not just an administrative imbalance to fix. It’s a real political scandal to straighten out!
Quebec already has quite the challenge of francizing its newcomers. The challenge becomes impossible when federal actions favor an overrepresentation of Anglophones among foreign students.
This problem takes on particular importance as their numbers explode. International students make up almost half of temporary immigrants, whose number now greatly exceeds regular immigrants.
The Legault government
The debate in Quebec generally concerns the so-called regular immigration threshold, the famous 50,000 set by the CAQ. But it is estimated that on December 31, there were 290,000 temporary immigrants in Quebec. Six times more than the discussed threshold!
We are always told that being temporary, we should not count them in the same way. It is partly true. But let’s keep in mind that many of those who arrive as students plan to stay in the country once they graduate. Which suits us very well given our labor needs.
The Legault government is far from satisfied with the immigration policy implemented by Ottawa. But he seems to have made the choice to avoid the frontal confrontation. However, this strategy is less and less valid.
A party that demanded full power over immigration not so long ago cannot sit idly by in the face of aberration today.