At the announcement on Monday, Ministers welcomed Christine Fréchette and Jean-François Roberge enthusiasm generated by Frenchization.

Ms. Fréchette, Minister of Immigration, Franciscanization and Integration (MIFI), quoted figures: In 2021-2022, the clientele of MIFI increased by 16%, and in the period 2022-2023 this increase reached 25%, peaking at nearly 47,000 people who benefited from the francization measures. This increase can be explained by the popularity of part-time French courses in a context of full employment and labor shortages.

It is impressivesaid Christine Fréchette, who sees Francisation Québec as an opportunity to simplify the process, harmonize the services offered and improve customer service.

From June 1st, she explained, the time would come the only government entry point for French learning services, for both individuals and businesses. Francisation Québec will support individuals and businesses from identifying their needs to making their trip a success in French, says the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) government.

The Minister recalled that the Auditor General (AG) qualified in 2017 Fiasco in the organization of French language services.

At the time, the VG found that between 2010 and 2013, only a third of the immigrants eligible for the franchising system had enrolled in Ministère de l’Immigration courses. In addition, several of the enrolled gave up before the end. And 90% of those who made it to the end of the process were actually unable to work in French on a daily basis.

We are the government that called the decline of the French in Quebec and took action to reverse that decline.French language minister Jean-François Roberge said on Monday. And it’s a big challengehe added, saying, see Francisation Quebec a large part of the law respecting the official and common language of Quebec, Frenchwhich was adopted around the same time last year.

This law made learning French a right and, as a result, the Quebec government’s Frenchization services are free, Christine Fréchette added.

The Learn French platform, accessible through Québec.ca, is being implemented gradually and will allow people to enroll in French courses.

These franchising services are offered to:

• new arrivals;
• prospective immigrants who want to learn French in preparation for their arrival;
• Born Canadian citizens residing in Quebec who do not speak French
• Employee

Financial support is also available if needed. Francisation Québec’s programs will replace the current programs, namely the Immigrant Linguistic Integration Program and the Immigrant Linguistic Integration Financial Assistance Program.

No numerical targets

Ministers have no goals or projections regarding the number of Francisation candidates who will use Francisation Québec: The government will adapt on request and francization Québec is in continuous recruitment “I ask the teachers to respond to this,” Ms. Fréchette said.

Because current francization services are fragmented due to the large number of partners, it is more difficult to obtain data on the number of people in francization, she explained. With Francisation Québec, we will group, “monitor” and centralize this data to get a more accurate picture of the situation.

To provide francization services, his department currently employs 550 teachers and is recruiting additional representatives a constant challenge given the lack of manpowershe admitted.

The budget for franchising services is increasing in Quebec: from US$94 million in 2018-2019, it has increased to almost US$218 million this year.

Tools for specific groups

“Francisation services at work are crucial under this new mandate,” said Minister Fréchette, and we will ensure they are offered to any company that is interested.

To this end, financial support will be provided to the companies, she assured.

In addition, French courses are offered in specific professional fields: administration, law and economics, cooking and catering, engineering and applied sciences, health, nursing, tourism and commerce.

Other French learning resources will be made available to people working in the accounting, information and communication technologies sectors who are acting as beneficiaries.

Finally, one of the components of Francisation Québec will be dedicated to young children and their parents, to promote awareness of the French language and the learning of this language through play.

The cautious opposition

For the united spokesman for immigration and francization, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, the creation of the Francisation Québec good news.

However, in a written statement, the new Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne MP warned that the success of this initiative could only be measured by its results. He further claims that this must be ensured winning conditions According to him, francification is a priority in business life.

For his part, Liberal spokesman Monsef Derraji wanted to welcome the initiative, but is under no illusions.
Once again, the CAQ government’s announcement smacks of open-ended improvisation. For example, the minister has no idea of ​​the potential number of users, does not set targets, nor does he provide criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the systemregretted the MNA for Nelligan in a press release and feared that the francization of Québec would lead to further “spectacular failures” such as those recorded with the introduction of SAAQclic.

Without these known elements and given the labor shortage, it is impossible to predict how many professors will be required for the success of the project. The CAQ is still just as chaotiche added.