The federal government seeks to reduce the capacity of immigrants and increase the percentage of French-speaking immigrants

Radio-Canada has obtained documents that show the Trudeau government is considering a plan to reduce immigration capacity due to the housing crisis. Apparently, the experts of the government are currently considering to keep the capacity of immigration stable or even reduce it for 2026.

Currently, half a million new permanent immigrants enter Canada every year, and with this new plan, next year, the process of increasing the capacity to absorb immigrants will probably stop and the capacity will remain at this level.

Radio-Canada says that while some government officials are calling for stabilization of immigration capacity, others have called for a reduction.

It should be noted that the arrival of new immigrants has become a sensitive issue for the government due to two key issues, the housing crisis and the lack of jobs. Although the immigration minister ruled out lowering the targets in August, he did not rule out keeping them the same or increasing them. But now it seems that the government’s approach is changing.

The federal government also wants to adopt policies to encourage the arrival of French-speaking immigrants in order to prevent the decline of the French-speaking population living outside of Quebec. In the bill to revise the Official Languages ​​Act, which was passed earlier this year, the government is required to develop policies to preserve the French-speaking minority in different parts of Canada.

Radio-Canada data shows the government is looking to gradually increase the capacity of French-speaking immigrants to regions outside of Quebec. Last year, this capacity was 4.4%. Finally, the government plans to bring the population of non-Québec French speakers to the level of 1971, which is about 6% of the total population.

It should be noted that the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA) has called for setting a target of 12% of the capacity to accept French-speaking immigrants in 2024 and to reach 20% by 2036 in order to restore the demographic weight of French-speaking minority communities outside of Quebec.