Languages commissioners push for francophone immigration

Commissioners of official languages are pushing the federal government and provincial governments in New Brunswick and Ontario to do more to increase immigration in francophone communities outside of Quebec.

New Brunswick's Katherine d'Entremontissued a call for more French-speaking immigrants in April, saying more needs to be done to ensure 33 per cent of immigrants to the province are francophone.

Graham Fraser, the federal language commissioner, Franois Boileau, the Ontario language commissionerand d'Entremontissued a news release on Thursday thatcalledthe francophone immigration situation "worrisome."

"Immigration is crucial to the vitality, indeed the future, of official language minority communities," said Fraser.

Nationally, only twoper cent of immigrants who settle outside of Quebec are French-speaking,while the francophone community outside of Quebec is about fourper cent of the general population, or approximately onemillion.

Francophones comprise about 33 per cent of New Brunswick's population, but only 12 per cent of immigrants are francophone.

New Brunswick's government has committed to having francophones comprise 33 per cent of immigrants to the province by 2020.

Ontario has set a fiveper cent target for francophone immigration.

Goal is 4.4% in 2018

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander says he's working on it.

"Under the current 2013-2018 roadmap for official languages, immigration was identified as an important way to preserve the vitality of francophone communities in minority situations," Alexander said in an emailed statement.

"Our government is working to increase economic francophone immigration from 1.1 per centof total economic immigration outside Qubec to 4.4 per centin 2018," he said.

"We are working with stakeholders from every partof the country and we will continue to do so."

The call by the languages commissioners comes at a time when the federal government is making changes to the immigration system, focusing on the economy, quicker entry to the labour market and recruiting immigrants who possess skills that are in demand in Canada.

"Weve reached a turning point," said Fraser.

"In the past year, the federal government has renewed its commitment to addressing the shortage of francophone immigrants.

"Meanwhile, we are just months away from one of the most substantial immigration system reforms in our history. Right now, we have an opportunity to transform immigration into a truly positive force for francophone communities outside Quebec. We cannot let it pass us by.

The language commissioners want the federal immigration framework to be tailored to the objectives of provincial and territorial governments for the selection, recruitment integration and retention of francophone immigrants.