Challenges Faced By Francophone Immigrants In Toronto

Summaries of the chosen articles

Discuss about the Challenges Faced By Francophone Immigrants.

The chosen region for the research in Toronto, Ontario and which is situated outside Québec. The title for the first chosen article is “Francophone immigrants face greater challenges outside Quebec” and which is going to discuss the problem associated with French-speaking immigrants in Toronto, Ontario. According to the article, it is evident that a person from Senegal named Cheikh Diagne got disappointed after shifting to Toronto, Ontario. He had found that some of the Canadian employers have properly identified his expertise and skills as an economist and banker. But on the other hand, he had encountered an act of disrespect by most of the Canadian employers as they found Mr. Diagne to be capable of getting jobs in customer service and call centers. Based on the statement of Cheikh Diagne it is evident that French is not considered to be the official language in many regions of Canada mostly outside Québec (Keung, 2017). Being French as the first language, Mr. Diagne has been facing several kinds of barriers for integrating and accessing the services. He has also declared out of disappointment that being a francophone immigrant, he was considered to be an unidentified minority within other minority groups.

The title of the second chosen article is “French new wave: A cultural shift for Toronto as ‘invisible francophones’ settle in” which clearly depicts about the cultural shift that occurs for the French-speaking population settling to Toronto, Ontario. In the article, it has been mentioned that the French-speaking population is considered to be invisible francophones (Ross, 2015). In spite of getting several kinds of guarantees through the Charter of Freedom and Rights, it has been found that there were very few French schools being established in Toronto, Ontario. The greatest fear of the French-speaking population was that whether they would be able to sustain in Toronto by carrying forwarding their culture and language. According to the article, it is evident that there was going to be a major cultural modification in Toronto due to the providing of French language training (Cook, 2016). The impact of cultural isolation in Toronto was so much that most of the people were unaware about the fact that according to Section 23 related to Charter it is evident that the French language needs to be there for all the students attending school (Ross, 2015).  

The title of the third chosen article is “Lost for words: One in every 20 Torontonians can’t speak English or French, study finds” that discusses the issues of the people staying in Toronto regarding the speaking of French or English. According to the article, it is evident that about one out of 20 Torontonians is unable to speak French or English and which results in creating a huge language barrier for them. It has also been found that these kinds of language barrier result in causing an issue related to the finding of the job (Kueng, 2018). Based on the social planning report of Toronto it is evident that approximately 132, 700 residents of Toronto do not have the capability of doing conversation in either French or English and there had been 20.5 percent of 648, 970 non-French and non-English speaking inhabitants present in whole Canada.

Discussion of the chosen articles

During the discussion of the first article it has been found that due to the changing patterns of global migration, it can be seen that Canada had shifted its profile of francophone immigrants since last ten years. The reason behind the fact is that many French-speaking people are coming from Europe and Africa to Canada by increasing the number of refugees in Africa. Based on the reports of the Ontario Office of Francophone Affairs it has been found that many francophone refugees born in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa (Keung, 2017). They are trying to shift to Toronto, Ontario and are distinguished as visible minorities. According to Léonie Tchatat, who is known to be the founder of La Passerelle IDE identified the fact that francophone visible minority refugees are facing a huge amount of challenges for settling down in Toronto, Ontario. In spite of providing various kinds of opportunities for the francophone employees that includes exception of the labor market and online immigration portal for the francophone, it has been found that they unable to fulfill their desired targets (Pennycook, 2017).

The discussion related to the second article evaluates the fact that due to the new cultural shift in Toronto there arose several kinds of issues associated with invisible francophone. The first French language school in Toronto area was established in the year 1988 and which is presently served by one Catholic and one public. According to the research it has been found that around 1000 francophone immigrants are setting in various sectors of Toronto (Dam, Chan & Wayland, 2018). The elder people are more concerned about the future of their kids and for that reason, they are planning to teach their children both the French language followed by the English language. The parents are trying to make their child believe that the French language is not a minority language while several kinds of successful events are associated with this language.

During the discussion of the third article, it has been noticed that there has been diversity in Toronto where the women and elderly persons are not capable of speaking in the French or English language. The research has evaluated the fact that if an individual is not comfortable with the official language then they are going to face various kinds of issues related to unemployment (Saunders et al., 2016). Moreover, if an individual staying in Toronto does not have the capability to speak in either French or English, then they will face difficulties while accessing various kinds of services that are available in Toronto and they're also going to be communicational issues. In the third chosen article it has also been discussed that mostly the aged persons and women came from different places and settled in Toronto and for that reason, they mostly lack the skills of official languages which are much needed for them (Thomson et al., 2015). The elder persons use to believe that it becomes very difficult for an aged person to learn English or French in the adult age as learning a new language after becoming older is a much difficult task. The third chosen article had also presented the fact that the around 35.7 percent of the Torontonians with no French or English language skills had their family income much lower than the poverty level in comparison with the other residents staying in Toronto (Kueng, 2018).

Analysis of the issues related to the articles

In the research, it has been found that the changing demographics in Toronto is bringing various kinds of opportunities related to trade for the Torontonians followed by bringing more diversified culture. This changing demographics is also bringing different types of challenges for the Torontonians related to racism and ethnocultural classifications (Orkin, 2015). It has been analyzed that the unemployment rate of the francophone visible minorities is twice in comparison to the average population of francophone inhabitants staying in Ontario.  

During the year 1500, it has been found that about 450 different languages were being spoken in Canada. After the colonization took place it has been noticed that the immigration took place and many people shifted from France to different regions of Canada and one such place in Toronto, Ontario (Gauthier et al., 2015).  According to the statistics of Canada in the year 2001, it has been found that around 59% of the overall population had the English language to be their mother tongue while 23% of the overall population had the French language to be their mother tongue. During the period of the 19^th century, it has been noted that the Canadian legal rights mostly concentrated on the religion of the French inhabitants rather than the French language.  

According to the research, it has been analyzed that about one half of the francophone in Ontario use to believe the fact that it is essential to obtain the French language healthcare support that is being provided by the provincial government (Kalich, Heinemann & Ghahari, 2016). It has been found that the Ontario government use to face various kinds of issues while providing health care services to about 13 million people on a daily basis (Bourhis & Montreuil, 2017). After the adoption of the French Language Services Act in the year 1986, it has been noted that the Ontarians would expect to receive improved quality service by using the French language in the health care centers. Moreover, it has been found that there has been an increasing demand for the French-speaking health care professionals in Ontario for providing health care support to the francophone immigrants (Foucher, 2017). There has been a huge amount of shortage of healthcare professionals, nurses, and general physicians since all of them are not expert in French language and due to which the treatment for the French-speaking patients also gets delayed.

In the research, it has been analyzed that immigration is considered to be the most integral part of the overall history of Canada. This particular country has managed to welcome the refugees coming from different parts of the world thereby providing them with various kinds of opportunities followed by challenges related to economic and political imperatives (Ahmed et al., 2016). All these refugees settling in Canada had played various kinds of crucial role related to the economic, social, and political development thereby contributing much towards the diversity and wealth of the country. The researchers have identified the fact that the refugees who have the capability of speaking French or English are mostly trying to shift to Canada and especially in Toronto, Ontario. This kind of diversity is mostly found in the francophone communities and within the new immigrant who is trying to settle in Toronto (Schwei et al., 2016). It is quite evident that there has been a job crisis in France and for that reason, people are shifting to Canada in search of a job. Now, after coming to Toronto, most of the immigrants face the major communicational issues as the employers always follow their own native language for taking the interview and due to which they ignore the French-speaking candidates.

According to the analysis of the issues, it has been found that the Francophone people group are not just encountering lower birth rates and higher rates of populace maturing, however, they are likewise being influenced by the intergenerational linguistic form of shifting related to English, debilitating their statistic imperativeness with respect to time. Thus it can be said that immigration is much required for any communities to flourish in future. However, it has been found that Francophone minority networks outside Quebec got little advantage from the demographic commitment of worldwide migration. In spite of having a higher birth rate, it can be seen that the French-speaking population in Toronto found themselves to be outnumbered in comparison with the English-speaking population (Gordon, 2015). The reason behind the fact is that the federal government of Canada used to prefer more English speaking immigrants as compared to the French-speaking population. In Toronto, Ontario it can be seen that there has been a great impact due to the language barrier which the Torontonians are currently facing in schools, colleges, workplaces, and in various other sectors. There has been a communication gap being found in the people of Toronto, Ontario who are French-speaking population (Okrainec et al., 2014). Communication is supposed to be the major activity that is required in every sector starting from schooling to job hunting and due to which the French-speaking population faces issues when to migrate to Toronto, Ontario in search of a job.

After the analysis of the overall report, it can be concluded that the shifting of demographics is trying to bring different types of challenges for the Torontonians related to racism and ethnocultural classifications. Furthermore, it is also creating issues while getting admission in schools of Toronto, Ontario or while searching for any job in that region.

References

Ahmed, S., Shommu, N. S., Rumana, N., Barron, G. R., Wicklum, S., & Turin, T. C. (2016). Barriers to access of primary health care by immigrant populations in Canada: a literature review. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 18(6), 1522-1540.

Bourhis, R. Y., & Montreuil, A. (2017). Acculturation, vitality, and bilingual health care. In The Oxford handbook of acculturation and health. Oxford University Press.

Cook, V. (2016). Second language learning and language teaching. Routledge.

Dam, H., Chan, J., & Wayland, S. (2018). Missed Opportunity: International Students in Canada Face Barriers to Permanent Residence. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 1-13.

Foucher, P. (2017). French-Language Health Services in Canada: The State of the Law. Accessibility and Active Offer: Health Care and Social Services in Linguistic Minority Communities.

Gauthier, A. P., Timony, P. E., Serresse, S., Goodale, N., & Prpic, J. (2015). Strategies for improved French-language health services: Perspectives of family physicians in northeastern Ontario. Canadian Family Physician, 61(8), e382-e390.

Gordon, D. C. (2015). The French language and national identity (1930–1975) (Vol. 22). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Kalich, A., Heinemann, L., & Ghahari, S. (2016). A scoping review of immigrant experience of health care access barriers in Canada. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 18(3), 697-709.

Keung, N., (2017). Francophone immigrants face greater challenges outside Quebec. Retrieved from: https://www.thestar.com/news/immigration/2017/05/30/francophone-immigrants-face-greater-challenges-outside-quebec.html [Accessed 29 July, 2018]

Kueng, N., (2018). Lost for words: One in every 20 Torontonians can’t speak English or French, study finds. Retrieved from: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/07/08/lost-for-words-one-in-every-20-torontonians-cant-speak-english-or-french-study-finds.html [Accessed 29 July, 2018]

Okrainec, K., Booth, G. L., Hollands, S., & Bell, C. M. (2014). Impact of language barriers on complications and mortality among immigrants with diabetes: a population-based cohort study. Diabetes Care, DC_140801.

Orkin, M. M. (2015). Speaking Canadian English: An informal account of the English language in Canada. Routledge.

Pennycook, A. (2017). The cultural politics of English as an international language. Routledge.

Ross, A., (2015). French new wave: A cultural shift for Toronto as ‘invisible francophones’ settle in. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/a-cultural-shift-for-toronto-as-invisible-francophones-settle-in/article26232519/ [Accessed 29 July, 2018]

Saunders, N. R., To, T., Parkin, P. C., & Guttmann, A. (2016). Emergency department revisits by urban immigrant children in Canada: a population-based cohort study. The Journal of pediatrics, 170, 218-226.

Schwei, R. J., Del Pozo, S., Agger-Gupta, N., Alvarado-Little, W., Bagchi, A., Chen, A. H., ... & Jacobs, E. A. (2016). Changes in research on language barriers in health care since 2003: a cross-sectional review study. International journal of nursing studies, 54, 36-44.

Thomson, M. S., Chaze, F., George, U., & Guruge, S. (2015). Improving immigrant populations’ access to mental health services in Canada: a review of barriers and recommendations. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 17(6), 1895-1905.