Pilot programs aimed at giving permanent status to French-speaking immigrants did not meet with the expected success. Two years after their creation, two of these immigration fast lanes designed to attract beneficiary attendants and food factory workers have starving participation rates, according to The duty. A third pilot program to attract workers, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence, is also not achieving its targets.
“These are very restrictive programs,” said Me Laurence Trempe, lawyer at EXEO and member of the Quebec Association of Immigration Lawyers (AQAADI). Responding to the department’s call, she had already expressed some reservations about these pilot programs, set up to allow certain immigrants not to lose access to permanent residence, while the reform, more restrictive, of the Quebec Experience Program (PEQ) had left them in the lurch.
Created in March 2021, the pilot program for workers in the food processing sector (slaughterhouse, seafood factory, etc.), where the needs are great, was to attract 550 people per year. However, in two years, barely 50 files have been submitted and 25 Quebec Selection Certificates (CSQ) have been issued in this program.
Created at the same time, with the same targets, that of beneficiary attendants received barely more than 200 CSQ requests, of which less than half were issued, according to data dating from the end of 2022.
Finally, with a target of 600 people per year, the pilot program in artificial intelligence and information technologies and visual effects received only 869 applications over two years, and 701 CSQs were issued. It should be noted that this two-part program reserves a total of 300 places (out of its annual target of 600) for non-French speakers and that this target was reached in less than two months for one of the parts, that of communication technologies. information and visual effects.
Too restrictive?
According to Dimitri Fraeys, Vice-President, Innovation and Economic Affairs of the Food Processing Council of Quebec, the low participation can be explained by the difficulty for some to obtain an equivalent of a high school diploma, which is one criteria, and by the 24 months of experience required, rather than 12 in some provinces. “Some workers will ask to be transferred to New Brunswick, for example, where the delays are shorter before being permanent,” he said.
However, some temporary workers recently meet the two-year experience requirement, which could increase the number of applications, according to the Immigration Department. He says he has already seen an increase in recent months.
Is the requirement to hold a level 7 on the Quebec scale of French proficiency levels a hindrance? Maybe, suggests immigration lawyer Krishna Gagné, “but maybe not in the case of beneficiary attendants, who generally have to speak French. She notes that the program targeting beneficiary attendants will no longer generate interest by 2024, because the profession has recently been classified in a higher category, which will allow immigrants practicing it to qualify for the PEQ.
While Liberal MP for Nelligan, Monsef Derraji, called these programs “failures”, his colleague from Quebec solidaire, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, called for a “relaxation” of the criteria.
During the study of the credits, the Minister of Immigration, Francisation, Integration (MIFI), Christine Fréchette, indicated that there were 550 annual places in the programs, but that there were not about “goals”. She also said that the program had to be given time to “make itself known” and that a relaxation of the criteria was not envisaged. “When you give five years to a pilot program, you have to give the time estimated at the start to assess the relevance and impact,” she said. “For now, the programs remain as they are and when it’s time to analyze them, we’ll see if [convient] to soften. »