Tue, November 30, 2004


Feds luring francophones

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau

The federal government is on a mission to lure French-speaking immigrants to Canada. While Immigration Minister Judy Sgro sat out a trip to Tunisia and Cameroon designed to promote immigration to francophone communities, last weekend she dispatched a delegation of government, francophone and Acadian representatives.

"Linguistic duality is fundamental to our Canadian identity and my government is committed to continuing its efforts to form the partnerships required to develop francophone minority communities," she said in a statement.

Sgro doesn't speak French fluently.

Conservative immigration critic Diane Ablonczy was "mystified" by the federal government's apparent emphasis on recruiting francophones.

Attracting skilled workers and fixing the broken refugee system have been identified as top priorities for the department, she said.

"It just popped up out of the blue, something completely different than (what) we've heard the minister talk about before," Ablonczy said.

Sebastien Anders, a spokesman for Canadians for Language Fairness, called it "biased" to promote immigration based on francophone status.

kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com

RECRUITMENT OF FRENCH SPEAKING IMMIGRANTS


March 19, 2002, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Denis Coderre, announced creation of a steering committee to facilitate the recruitment and selection of French speaking immigrants. The committee will also be responsible for the settlement and integration of these newcomers into French-language minority communities – including Ottawa. The federal government is conducting a study to assess the settlement capacity of the following cities: Ottawa, Sudbury, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Moncton.



The Commissioner of Official Languages, Dyane Adam, has recommended that special measures be included in the regulations, of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, to restore the balance between the official language communities and to permit the implementation of the Act’s new linguistic duality clauses. Dr. Adam is very pleased with the members of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration for showing the political will to ensure that the new Immigration Act and related regulations serve to strengthen the social and linguistic fabric of Canada. She feels strongly that “immigration is now the single most important factor contributing to real growth of Canada’s population and, as such, it has become critical to the demographic renewal of our official (French) language communities. Linguistic duality is a fundamental characteristic of our national identity, and Canada’s immigration policy must do more than simply give points for knowledge of official languages when immigrants are selected.” This targeted approach to immigration is vital to the growth of French-speaking communities outside of Quebec. This is how Prime Minister Jean Chretien is able to fulfill his commitment to enhance the vitality of, and support and assist the development of, French language communities in Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada is expected to do more promotion and recruitment in potential source countries for Francophone immigration.



For more details, contact the Office of the Commissioned of Official Languages (Ottawa tel: 996-6368) and ask for a copy of the report “Immigration and the Vitality of Canada’s Official Language Communities: Policy, Demography and Identity” prepared by Dr. Jack Jedwab of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, and released February 26, 2002.



The Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration is a House of Commons committee chaired by Joe Fontana, MP for London North-Centre.



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AN AFRICAN TOUR TO PROMOTE FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRATION


NEWS RELEASE / COMMUNIQUÉ 2004-18

OTTAWA, November 26, 2004 - Judy Sgro, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, today announced that a delegation of representatives of the Government of Canada, Francophone and Acadian minority communities, and provincial governments will be visiting the African cities of Tunis (Tunisia) and Yaoundé (Cameroon). The purpose of the tour, which will take place from November 28 to December 9, 2004, is to promote immigration to Canada’s Francophone minority communities.

“Linguistic duality is fundamental to our Canadian identity, and my government is committed to continuing its efforts to form the partnerships required to develop Francophone minority communities,” said Minister Sgro.

This tour is one of a number of initiatives currently underway in support of the objectives set out in the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities that was launched in November 2003. This framework supports the Government of Canada’s Action Plan for Official Languages unveiled in March 2003.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada will soon be releasing the summary of initiatives for 2002-2006 outlining the national, provincial and territorial two-year plans for the department and its partners. These plans were developed to ensure implementation of the Strategic Framework and to report on progress made to date.

For more information on immigration to Francophone minority
communities or the Strategic Framework, visit the department’s Web site:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/francophone.html


For more information (media only):
Giovanna Gatti Maria Iadinardi
Press Secretary Media Relations
Minister’s Office Communications Branch
(613) 954-1064 (613) 952-0740
Visit our Internet site: http://www.cic.gc.ca