“Aberrant”, “absurd”, “completely ridiculous”: the opposition parties in Quebec do not mince their words to denounce the lack of recognition of the evaluations in French created here in the field of immigration. They call with one voice to design a test entirely in the province.
The duty reported Monday that a Montreal immigration consultant was forced to take a French test designed in France, when he had just passed with flying colors that of the Quebec Office of the French Language (OQLF). Standardized tests will also soon be introduced in francization courses, but the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI) shows no intention of using them as a test for permanent residents.
“It’s simply relentlessness,” said Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji, official opposition critic for immigration and francization.
“It is a lack of courage on the part of the Minister [Fréchette], while Canada recognizes the achievements of the francization of Quebec, but not Quebec itself,” he continues. Indeed, since 2020, the MIFI no longer recognizes certificates from francization courses as proof of language proficiency to obtain permanent residence.
“This is another demonstration of the 12 works of Asterix in immigration procedures”, also abounds the deputy of Quebec solidaire Guillaume Cliche-Rivard. He himself knows these bureaucratic maze very well, having practiced immigration law for ten years. “What that tells me overall is to clean up and standardize what works,” he says.
He reminds that an immigrant can obtain Canadian citizenship by presenting a certificate of francization in Quebec. However, this same proof cannot be used to obtain permanent residence in the very province that funds this important program. “All this reaffirms the need to have a standardized test that works for all language demands,” he invites. A test created in Quebec could, for example, be used for immigration consultants, for professional orders and for immigrants, subject to having sections specific to each category.
“It is absurd that the MIFI does not recognize the evaluations of the OQLF, we are part of the same state,” said Parti Québécois MP Joël Arseneau. It is “unjustified” according to him not to consult between “major Quebec institutions”.
The fact that such a creation is expensive, an argument raised by some observers, is “inconceivable” for this MP. It compares with the evaluations created in secondary and college education, areas for which the economic argument is not “an issue”. “The State of Quebec must equip itself with a tool that will support us and that will be used for several years. […] It’s an investment more than an expense,” he concludes.
Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette has not committed to creating a Quebec test for permanent residence applications. However, the reform of immigration programs will rely more and more on the obligation to prove a certain level of language proficiency, modulated according to job categories.
After the publication of the experience of Duty who passed one of the eligible tests designed in France, the Minister nevertheless agreed that they needed to be better adapted to the Quebec context. She then said she wanted to analyze the situation and see “what are the courses of action”.