Issues Faced By French Speaking Immigrants In Canada

The Problem of Immigration in Canada

Discuss about the French Language and Culture for Minority Language.

the most important issue that an French speaking people can face in Canada is the problem of immigration. It is evident that the rate of immigrants in Canada has reached its peak within a year according to the statistics of 2016 census. In this context, the statistical data of Canada shows that the population of indigenous culture has increased intensively with almost 1.7 million in the year 2016. Almost 21.9% of the native Canadians reported about the presence of immigrant to be the permanent resident of the country (winter, 2015). It can be estimated that there is a high possibility of 30% increase in the rate of French speaking immigrants in Canada. This increase in the numbers of new immigrants in Canada is largely due to the presence of Quebec that makes huge effort in retaining French speaking populations. Since the period of quiet revolution the issue of language barrier has become a hot topic in Canada.

There have been several language bills and laws passes to create linguistic provision. The most important problem that the French speaking immigrants face in Canada is in creating a self-identity. It is due to the stark rise of French speaking population that the ownership of the non-immigrant population is falling down drastically. In Quebec nearly 20% amongst the entire minority ration are English Canadians. On the contrary Simon & St-Pierre (2015) stated that French Canadians form significant minority populations in Canada. The problem of French population in Canada lies in the dual nationality that is approved by the government. The general Canadians are not able to absorb the presence of French speaking immigrants in their native place. However, Higginbottom et al., (2017) argued that the major issue that flared up between French speaking people and Canadians is the Conscription.

Apart from this the issue has also speeded from just a language issue to the ownership. It has been seen from the article that data estimated in the census shows that French speaking minorities millennials are less likely to get hold of the ownership of homes than their parents in the current years. It has been stated since long that the interaction between both the language French and English has a huge amount of borrowing in between them (Gierveld, Van der Pas & Keating, 2015). Therefore, the problem lies in the fact that French language has evolved in isolation and is static in nature. As a result of which it can never be a dynamic form of language. Borrowing by the Quebec was mostly anglicised and partial. Therefore, the issue here is that the French speaking people are not properly appreciated by the native Canadians and majorly due to the poorly spoken grammars and phonetics (Slavina & Khairova, 2016). The language spoken by the native Quebec lacks the feeling of culture and the quality which becomes difficult for the generals Canadians to understand their language. Several campaigns and educational steps have been taken to improve the quality of the language but nothing much could be done. Nevertheless, it is evident that the number of French speaking immigrants is increasing in Canada which is inevitable situation of the minority.

Language Barriers and Creating Self-Identity

The news article explores some of the practical problems that might be faced by the French speaking immigrants while they are planning to relocate in Canada. In this aspect, the article presents a statistical estimation for the new permanent residents of Canada those are likely to increase by the year 2020. It is the international experience in Canada that makes it easier for the population aged in between 18 to 35 to move in work almost two year of work permission for the Irish population (Chouinard, 2014). Toronto is the major spots for employment sources for the immigrants in the areas of construction, mining location. However, when it comes to the French speaking populations the problems occurs in the first six month of the relocation. The initial problem that the population face is during the course of visa rules where the authority asks endless questions to the French population. According to the IEC rules people visiting Canada needs to have at least 2500 Canadian dollars in their account after the arrival to Canada (Ross et al., 2018). Owing to the lack of understanding of language they may run out of the amount quickly. Statistics on this context has released that current French speaking immigrants may tend to remain highly unemployed more than the native Canadian population. Most of these problems may be because of the different fount and language of CV, resume, list of phonetical error and grammatical error that are usually not favoured by Canadians. These issues may be major barriers for the French speaking job finders in Canada. In case of health and educations they are often considered as minority population, as a result of which they do not get the chance to avail proper health and educational requirements.

Despite of the problems it is evident that countries like Australia, US are putting a strict restriction on the immigration programs whereas Canada is offering an open invitation to the immigrants. It has been clearly stated in the article that by the year 2020 there is a high possibly that Canada will turn in to the home place for more than one million residents who will be selected on the basis of their skills as well as experience (Smith, 2017). Applying for IEC visa those are mostly dealt in English poses as the major problem for French speaking minority. However, the article illustrates differing necessities that can be helpful for these populations before visiting the place.

Challenges in Employment and Housing

 On the other hand the express entry program allows the French and other immigrants for availing the services of ling stay permanent residency visas in an online form.  In this program immigrants from three major economic classes can apply their interest of obtaining permanent residency. Profiles are usually ranked and selected on the basis of language of English, proficiency, experience in employment and their age. This is the major problem where the person from French population gets stuck. Provinces and territories select the proffered candidates based on the proficiency. Successful candidates get the chance to complete the process of immigration.  In case of renting the house, landlords often ask the individuals about their references, employment and income detains. In this case, French speaking immigrants may not be able to negotiate with the house owners. As a result of which they do not get the rent. However, Costello (2015) states that they are registered to carry out the credit review to ensure the prospects of the individual tenant. In case of employment in IT firms French speaking immigrants are usually not able to communicate to the native Canadians due to their poor usage of grammar and phonetics, working environment become tough for them (Evans, Baskerville & Nara, 2015). Therefore, these are the major issues that the French speaking immigrants face during the course of visit or staying in Canada.   

The article explores that there are almost 1673,785 rate of indigenous population according to the other population in Canada. The immigrant’s population in Canada is almost 4.9% from the population in the year 2006 that has been seen as 3.8. Most of the increase in the number of immigration resulted from the growth by the enhanced expectancies of life and high rate of fertility. In this context the article illustrated the urging requirement of the Canadian government to provide improved support for the Francophones in the Canadian province that are falling down drastically. These issues in Ontario, Canada have turned into an argumentative topic. It has been seen that the rate of French speaking in Ontario has increased from5.2% since the year 1996 to 4.7% in the current year. It is evident the increase in the percentage of the French speaking population are posing a greater impact on the public programs. It has been found from the report that there are several issues that may influence the delivery if French language despite the growth of French speaking population. This is because most of the new immigrants in Canada and the native populations prefer English as their official language and the very low amount of people are opting for the translation of French language. The problem is mostly seen in case of the children whose one parent is francophone. There have been several debates over the issue where many suggestions have been made to boost the population of French speaking demographic (Roy, 2018). However, issues came up when individuals from French speaking immigrants who visited Ontario asked for verbal and written instruction where they will be avail service in French. Accessibility and speaking English is the most important issues faced by Francophones in Canada. Therefore, the article asserts a suggestive action to be taking the progressive government for reviewing the report and take some effective actions to help the francophone community. Spector, Liu & Sanchez (2015) comments that if the proper actions are not being taken by the government the arte of French speaking population may fall down that it may turn impossible to avail services that are necessary to speak French in Canada.

Importance of Providing Increased Support for Francophones

Therefore, it is necessary to offer the French speaking immigrants with increased number of health and educational services in support of their language. More schools with French accessibility are required to be built up separating from the political issue. Therefore, from the above article it is clear that the English Canada never understood the problematic situation of French speaking immigrants who cried consistently for the conscription for drafting the French. It is the English speaking Canadian that imposed their desires against the French speaking majority in contrast to the confirmation given when the dominance was founded. It is due to this issue that French speaking immigrants were shattered as a result of which they had horrifying dreams of being crushed over the ages in future, conscription of language came over to them as a burden and alien meaning to them (Spector et al., 2015). They found the native language of English something embeds in alien culture that signified complete loss of freedom that they desired for. It all started during the reign of World War II for which the French speaking population had to struggles a lot for the decade. However, lately the Canadian government passed down several laws to support the French Canadians, but they were not helpful enough for them to accept the struggles of horrid reality. In the meanwhile the English Canadians repeatedly attacked the government for approving French speaking immigrants in their native land. The dual national reality of Canada has always made it hard for the populations to deal with. Nonetheless, it has become hard for the government to rule the dual state in such miserable condition.

Reference list

Chouinard, S. (2014). The rise of non-territorial autonomy in Canada: Towards a doctrine of institutional completeness in the domain of minority language rights. Ethnopolitics, 13(2), 141-158.

Costello, J. (2015). Students' Stories of Studying Abroad: Reflections upon Return. Journal of International Students, 5(1), 50-59.

Evans, L., Baskerville, R., & Nara, K. (2015). Colliding worlds: Issues relating to language translation in accounting and some lessons from other disciplines. Abacus, 51(1), 1-36.         

Gierveld, J. D. J., Van der Pas, S., & Keating, N. (2015). Loneliness of older immigrant groups in Canada: Effects of ethnic-cultural background. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 30(3), 251-268.

 Grenier, E., (Oct 25, 2017), 21.9% of Canadians are immigrants, the highest share in 85 years: StatsCan. CBC NEWS. [Online]. Retrieved on 24 July 2018. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/census-2016-immigration-1.4368970

Higginbottom, G. M., Hadziabdic, E., Yohani, S., & Paton, P. (2014). Immigrant women's experience of maternity services in Canada: A meta-ethnography. Midwifery, 30(5), 544-559.

Ross, J. F., Jaumont, F., Schulz, J., Dunn, J., & Ducrey, L. (2018). Sustainability of French Heritage Language Education in the United States. Handbook of Research and Practice in Heritage Language Education, 731-748.

Roy, G., (Jul 19, 2018), Action needed to better support francophones in Ontario, commissioner says. The Star. [Online]. Retrieved on 24 July 2018. Retrieved from

Simon, S., & St-Pierre, P. (2015). Changing the terms: Translating in the postcolonial era (p. 272). University of Ottawa Press/Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa.

Slavina, L. R., & Khairova, I. V. (2016). Language education in the regions of Russia and Canada: a comparative analysis. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 11(6), 1809-1816.

Smith, M. A. (2017). French Heritage Language Learning: A Site of Multilingual Identity Formation, Cultural Exploration, and Creative Expression in New York City. Critical Multilingualism Studies, 5(2), 10-38.

Spector, P. E., Liu, C., & Sanchez, J. I. (2015). Methodological and substantive issues in conducting multinational and cross-cultural research. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav., 2(1), 101-131.

Winter, E. (2015). Rethinking Multiculturalism After its “Retreat” Lessons From Canada. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(6), 637-657.