Abstract
In the area of immigration, much attention has been paid to the increased participation of civil society organizations in the delivery of public policy. In Canada, since the mid-1990s, numerous studies have researched the impacts of the federal devolution, either to the provinces or to the third sector organizations. However, the effects of the 2012 federal repatriation regarding the management of settlement services have yet to be studied. This article provides such an analysis. It compares the cases of British Columbia and Manitoba and focuses on Francophone minority communities. The results indicate that the scale of funding matters. My conclusion calls for more attention to be paid to the specificities of Francophone service providers when it comes to research, as well as policy-making processes, notably at the evaluation stages.
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Notes
Except Quebec, which had its own immigration and settlement agreement
Similarly, the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement (COIA) was not renewed by the federal government.
In this article, we refer to French language minorities outside of Quebec.
Le par et pour Francophone in French.
Francophones (here, people with French as their first official spoken language) are 62,190 in British Columbia versus 41,365 in Manitoba, but they represent 1.4% of the provincial population versus 3.5% (Chavez and Bouchard-Coulombe 2011).
Large disparities exist with regard to definitions of “Francophone immigrants” across Canada. IRCC uses the most encompassing definition: “A French-speaking immigrant is an immigrant for whom French is the first Canadian official language of usage.” However, IRCC limits the definition of “immigrant” to those holding or having held permanent resident status.
Increase the number of French-speaking immigrants; improve the capacity of Francophone communities to receive Francophone newcomers and strengthen their reception and settlement infrastructure; ensure the economic, social, and cultural integration of French-speaking immigrants into Canadian society and Francophone minority communities in particular; and foster regionalization of Francophone immigration outside Toronto and Vancouver.
These 29 interviews do not include those conducted with the previously mentioned provincial public servants. The list of participants, as well as the dates of the interviews and their locations, is available in the Online Appendix.
Quebec has had its own agreement with the federal government since 1991. Other provinces feared that a fiscal transfer would allow Ottawa to step away from its funding responsibilities (Vineberg 2012, pp. 44–45).
1998, 2001, and 2003 for Manitoba and 2004 and 2010 for British Columbia.
Interview, public servant, Winnipeg, 28/07/14.
Namely, the “Express Entry” system that was implemented in 2015. Based on Australian and New Zealand experiences, this system of immigrant selection allows employers to choose potential candidates from a pool of skilled workers.
Interview, public servant, Winnipeg, 28/07/14.
This plan is known in French as Agrandir notre espace Francophone.
Greg Selinger was the Manitoba Premier until 2016. From 1999 until now, he has been the New Democratic party MLA of Saint-Boniface, the historical center of the Franco-Manitoban community.
Shelly Glover was the Conservative MP of Saint Boniface from 2008 to 2015.
The Accueil was designed as the “one-stop shop” for providing settlement services to French-speaking immigrants since 2003.
Currently, the Accueil Francophone is the only Francophone IRCC-funded resettlement agency outside of Quebec. Concerning sponsorship though, local actors complained that the procedures (and notably filling in the forms) were increasingly complex and lengthy (Interview 22).
From 2008 to 2013, Francophone staff working for the Agence francophone pour l’accueil et l’intégration des immigrants (AFAI) were providing reception services only (e.g., information and guidance) but they were not recognized as settlement officers who provide longer-term services to foster integration, such as language training, employment, or community connections.
Such as offering services in French through a provincial linguistic clause or recruiting through the BC-PNP and the BC-Francophone Immigration Steering Committee. The BC-FISC was financed by a grant from IRCC but was managed by the province.
As in Manitoba, this was a concern in British Columbia, where a significant portion of French speakers consists of temporary residents, notably working holiday visa holders.
Although some initial tensions were mentioned between the Accueil and the Amicale de la francophonie, their roles with respect to advocacy or service delivery, and the impacts on potential governmental funding. Also mentioned were tensions over employability services (Interviews 13, 18, Allain, Sacko).
Today known as the Société de la Francophonie Manitobaine.
Only one organization was funded for employability, but two organizations were competing to provide such services (Interviews Audet, Allain, Sacko).
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Fourot, AC. Does the Scale of Funding Matter? Manitoba and British Columbia Before and After the Federal Repatriation of Settlement Services. Int. Migration & Integration 19, 865–881 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0572-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-018-0572-2