Canada: Prof. blasts federal plan to recruit francophone immigrants because Newcomers end up speaking English

Thu Dec 20 15:10:43 UTC 2007

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Prof. blasts federal plan to recruit francophone immigrants Newcomers
end up speaking English

Kate Jaimet,  CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, December 18, 2007

OTTAWA -- The federal government is pursuing an "irresponsible" policy
of recruiting francophone immigrants to minority French communities in
English Canada, when it should be sending them instead to the more
robust francophone regions of Quebec, New Brunswick, and eastern
Ontario, a University of Ottawa professor argues in a forthcoming
journal article. In "The contribution of immigration to francophone
populations outside Quebec," to be published in the journal
Francophonies d'Amerique, adjunct professor Charles Castonguay argues
a large proportion of francophone immigrants become anglicized when
they move to small French communities in Canada, and end up bolstering
the English-speaking population rather than the French-speaking
minority.

"It's a stupid program," Mr. Castonguay said in an interview. "We're
wasting our bloody money here, because we're actually recruiting
anglophones."  But Commissioner of Official Languages Graham Fraser
defended the immigration policy. "I think it's absolutely critical for
the future of French-speaking minority communities across Canada that
they have access to immigration, to a stream of newcomers," Mr. Fraser
said. Francophonies d'Amerique, a journal published by the University
of Ottawa, will print Castonguay's article in January -- the same
month former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord gives his
recommendations to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on minority language
policy.

Immigration has been a component of language policy at least since
2001, when Parliament passed the Immigration and Refugee Protection
Act, identifying one of the objectives of immigration as: "to support
and assist the development of minority official languages communities
in Canada."  In 2003, then-intergovernmental affairs minister Stephane
Dion dedicated $9-million over five years toward recruiting immigrants
to minority-language communities. And in September, 2006, the
Conservative government furthered the policy by launching their
"Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority
Communities."

The target was to attract between 8,000 and 10,000 French-speaking
immigrants annually to francophone communities outside Quebec. Perhaps
as a measure of the success of these programs, the census results show
the number of francophone immigrants settling outside Quebec rose to
9,350 between 2001 and 2006 from 7,500 between 1996 and 2001.  But Mr.
Castonguay says his analysis shows that within about 20 years of
immigrating to Canada, a large proportion of francophones outside
Quebec adopt English as their primary language. "We're not really
helping the French minorities by recruiting international immigrants
to go to places where they're going to assimilate (to English)
anyways," he said.

In his article, Mr. Castonguay used data from the 2001 census to look
at the language most commonly used at home by francophone immigrants
aged 45 to 54. Reasoning that most immigrants arrive at about age 30,
this age bracket would identify their switch in language after 15 to
25 years in Canada, Mr. Castonguay said.  He found in six provinces --
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and B.C. --
more than 50% of francophone immigrants in that age bracket spoke
mainly English at home.
The rate stood at 43% in P.E.I., 46% in Manitoba, and 20% in New Brunswick.

Equivalent data from the 2006 census are not yet available, but a
report by Statistics Canada on Dec. 11 found the percentage of people
outside Quebec who use French as their main home language declined to
2.5% in 2006, from 2.7% in 2001 -- continuing a downward trend that
has existed since 1971.  Based on his results, Mr. Castonguay argues
the federal government should redirect its immigration program to
steer francophone immigrants toward Quebec, New Brunswick, and Eastern
Ontario, where anglicization rates are lower and they have a better
chance of both retaining their own language, and augmenting the
French-speaking community.

Ottawa Citizen

 http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=180580

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