Feedback on the Final Report by Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration

Yesterday, we sent a news release following the publication of the final report by Ontario’s Expert Roundtable on Immigration.

The report contains 32 recommendations to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration on the planning of Ontario’s first Immigration Strategy. These recommendations relate to immigrant selection and settlement and to labour market integration issues.

In the report, the Expert Roundtable emphasizes how important it is for the government to work closely with the Francophone communities, among others, to design immigration policies and provide programs that meet their needs.

Clearly, immigration must be seen as a golden opportunity to contribute to the vitality and the development of the Francophone community in Ontario. The many newcomers I have met while touring Ontario have always expressed their willingness to be part of the new community they settle in. They have also raised their concerns over the different issues, deceptions and frustration that they meet at each and every step of the settlement, training and integration process.

In my view, it is important that as soon as newcomers arrive in Canada, and particularly in Ontario, they can be referred to the right organizations, in French, and that they understand that they can live and participate fully in the province’s Francophone community.

This is why in my 2011-2012 Annual Report, I recommended that the government establish an advisory committee to guide the Ministry’s efforts in the area of Francophone immigration in Ontario. I also recommended that, using a consultative and interministerial approach, the government develop a strategy to welcome Francophone newcomers, provide them with language training and integrate them into the labour market.

I am convinced that the planning of an interministerial approach on Francophone immigration should consider these challenges in order for newcomers to fully contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which they chose to settle.

With this report, in addition to the recommendations in my 2011-2012 Annual Report, the government now has a number of important tools to assist in developing a genuine strategy for welcoming Francophone newcomers to Ontario, providing them with language training and integrating them into the labour market.

The Francophone communities play an active role in Ontario’s economic, social and cultural growth and, in so doing, they strengthen the province’s capacity to build relationships around the world. Now more than ever, Ontario must also strive to attract its fair share of Francophone immigrants, and the government needs to set measurable and quantifiable immigration targets. I am counting on the government to build a strategy that reflects this reality and takes the Francophone communities’ specific needs into account. I will continue to follow this file closely!