Quebec racism
OP: I'm from the province of Quebec, Canada, so I thought I would post this.
Quebec struggles to retain its francophone immigrants
George Achi left Montreal to settle in Toronto. PHOTO : DANNY BRAÜN
-----------------------
Many francophone immigrants leave [the Canadian province of] Quebec as a result of their being unable to find work as well as a welcoming situation and culture. And often, it is [the Canadian province] of Ontario which welcomes them.
Many have dreamed of moving to Quebec in order to live a better life in French. The governmental ads make them believe that they have a guaranteed future and possibilities in the French language, as a result of an immigrant selection process which favors them.
Once arrived, they are often faced with an entirely different reality. “In Quebec, I was immediately classified [in people’s eyes] as a francophone immigrant, which is something I have not experienced here in Toronto when faced with an Anglophone population, even though I do have an accent when speaking English”, remembers George Achi, a man of Lebanese origin, with Frech [i.e. France] nationality.
Despite having a good job, he left Montreal (a city he liked), but which reminded him too much of the type of questions regarding identity which he was familiar with as a result of his Lebanese and French past.
“In Toronto, I can be anonymous and I don’t have to ask myself all these questions I was trying to escape and which are difficult to live with.”
George Achi
The Sibileau-Brossas couple, originally from France, emigrated to Mississauga a few months ago, Mississauga being a suburb of Toronto. Thomas Brossas’ business moved its airport activities to Pearson international airport in Toronto, which is the biggest airport in Canada.
His wife Marine went with him.
In Quebec, people are always in defensive mode with regards to protection of their language. That’s all right, but there is a sort of crust that needs to be pierced. Other cultures are not as easily allowed in.
Marine Sibileau
Toronto is the city which is full of communities while Quebec belongs to French Quebecquers/ethnic French Canadians”, she says.
Jobs which are difficult to find
A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supports this. Even if there are two times fewer immigrants in Montreal than in Toronto, whre they represent more than 46 % of the population, they are unable to find work in their field or worse, cannot find a job at all.
This “metropolis of talent”, the study’s authors note, is nevertheless a young francophone city with universities and innovation, which is culturally alive/vibrant. This is a paradox, concludes the AECD study.
According to the OECD, the unemployment rate among recent immigrants in Montreal (i.e. arrived within the last five years) is greater than 18 %, while it is a bit over 14 % among those having settled in Toronto. After 10 years, immigrants in Toronto do however have an unemployment rate similar to that of the overall/global population in Montreal.
Statistics Canada has also noted some linguistic disparities : 16 % of recent immigrants to Quebec who speak only English are unemployed, a number which climbs to 23 % among those speaking only French.
A “francoboom” near Toronto, Ontario
It is in Mississauga [Ontario] that Patrick Bertolin was able to find a job in his field. PHOTO : DANNY BRAÜN
-----------------
In Mississauga, the Catholic elementary school Saint-Jean-Baptiste is undergoing a “francoboom “. On its grounds, large spaces have been covered with concrete in order to welcome six mobile classes which have been created in response to the new registrations/students.
The students are as often from mixed francophone-anglophone families as from families of new immigrants who want their children to learn French, which provides a distinct advantage in Ontario.
That is where Patrick Bertolin, a man originally from Cameroun who was selected as an immigrant by the government of Quebec, found a job corresponding to his skills, which is an experience not found in Quebec [i.e. which was something he did not find in Quebec].
“ If I had found a job corresponding to my skills or even if I had been called for a mere one or two face-to-face interviews, I would have stayed [in Quebec] and told myself that I would eventually get my chance”, says the teacher.
The only jobs I found [in Quebec] were a night job in a factory or working at Dollarama [i.e. business a bit similar to Walmart] at 10 $ per hour.
Patrick Bertolin
“It’s unfortunate”, he says. “The Quebec government should realize that there is a problem.”
In total, nearly a quarter of immigrants to Quebec leave for other Canadian provinces, particularly Ontario.
SOURCE 1 is in French (translation is by the OP).
----------------------
Why Quebec needs more immigrants
Something quite predictable happened when Quebec’s Liberal government recently suggested increasing the number of immigrants the province accepts each year to 60,000 from the current 50,000. The blowback was immediate, the critics apoplectic, and the government’s retreat expeditious.
Quebec’s population is aging faster than anywhere in Canada outside the Atlantic provinces. Its work force is shrinking, creating labour shortages in some sectors. The novelty of policies aimed at getting Quebeckers to have more babies - cheap daycare and generous parental leave - has worn off. Quebec’s birth rate fell for the sixth year in a row in 2015. At 1.6 births per woman of child-bearing age, it’s down from a 2009 peak of 1.73, and now matches the national average.
A recent government white paper warned that maintaining immigration at the current 50,000 annual level would lead to a “marked” decline in the working-age population between 2016 and 2031, putting a damper on economic growth and everything that flows from it. Starting at 60,000 immigrants a year, however, the work force would continue to grow well into the future.
A healthy discussion of immigration thresholds would consider these factors while reviewing the longer-term evidence. Since the adoption of the province’s Bill 101 in 1977, requiring the children of immigrants to attend French-language schools, several cohorts of new Quebeckers have embraced la langue de Molière and successfully integrated into francophone society. The proportion of Quebeckers speaking French at home remained a robust 82.5 per cent in 2011, while almost 95 per cent of all Quebeckers could speak French, according to Statistics Canada.Yet, despite such reassuring evidence, opposition politicians showed the usual reflexes in denouncing the government for merely raising the possibility of an increase in immigration. Granted, immigration is a touchier subject in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada, given francophone Quebeckers’s perception of themselves as a threatened minority within North America. As the debate about the former Parti Québécois government’s Charter of Values demonstrated in 2013, the perceived threat is not merely linguistic, but cultural and religious, as well.
Still, the opposition PQ and Coalition Avenir du Québec didn’t focus on those aspects as much as the short-term economic costs of accepting more immigrants. Curiously, this is the same argument raised by prominent Quebec economist Pierre Fortin, who also warns against an increase in immigration quotas.
But while it’s true that immigrants to Quebec have initially tended to face more difficulty integrating into the work force - employer discrimination and lack of English-language skills being among the main reasons - they also tend to catch up by the five- or 10-year mark. And Quebec’s new policy of choosing immigrants in line with qualifications and labour market requirements will only hasten the integration of newcomers.
Besides, immigration is the opposite of a short-term policy. It is a long-term investment in a society’s future dynamism and prosperity. A community that invests in its immigrants will see its immigrants, and their descendants, invest in it. If Canada is an example of anything, it is this.
Slow or zero population growth is a recipe for decline - economic, social, cultural. Choosing this path out of the fear that more immigration might not only change the face, but the fibre, of Quebec society would be to condemn the province to increasing marginalization within Canada and the world.
As much as Quebec sometimes feels closer to Europe than to the rest of Canada, Europe would be the wrong model for Quebec on immigration policy. A quarter of all immigrants who arrived in Quebec in the decade up to 2013 subsequently left the province, some because they sensed an unwelcoming environment. Quebec needs to devote more resources not only to attracting immigrants, but to retaining them after they arrive.
So what if it means some will need to learn English (in addition to French) to successfully integrate into the workplace? That is a reality faced by most Quebeckers, whether native-born or not. Most professions these days, especially if they involve technology, require some functionality in English.
No francophone Quebecker I know considers unilingualism an asset, yet the suggestion that immigrants should learn both of Canada’s official languages sparks howls of protest from the PQ and CAQ, which seek to make political hay out of Quebeckers’ insecurities. It’s an insult to the resourcefulness of Quebeckers who, over four centuries, have maintained their linguistic identity in the face of far bigger cultural threats than the presence of bilingual immigrants.
If anything, Quebec needs more of them.
SOURCE 2. (NB: "La langue de Moliere refers to the French language -i.e. the language of the dramatist Moliere).
Additional links:
-Just as a reminder, I think it is important to note recent history involving the so-called Quebec 'Charter of Values': this was a hotly debated proposal, unprecedented in Canada, to prohibit public employees from wearing religious symbols (e.g. Muslim hijab, Sikh turban, etc.). This was proposed in 2013 by the then-provincial government of the Parti Québecois (i.e. francophone separatist party in the province). This idea became popular among (i.e. white) French Canadians and was proposed by the Parti Québecois as a means of increasing its popularity at a time when the idea of Quebec separating from Canada was not winning as many votes.
(1) The Dangerous Logic of Quebec's 'Charter of Values'. (OP note: the article states that Quebec has seen a 'leftward shift' in its politics since the 1960s which is not really accurate. There was a leftward shift in the 1960s but since the 1990s or so politics in this province has shifted pretty far the the right. I can provide receipts for this if anyone is interested...)
(2) Quebec values charter: Is it a political game changer for the PQ?
-An apparent consequence of Quebec's debate on the 'Charter of Values' was an increase in attacks on Muslim women.
OP is f*cking ashamed to be French and a Quebecquer.
Quebec struggles to retain its francophone immigrants
George Achi left Montreal to settle in Toronto. PHOTO : DANNY BRAÜN
-----------------------
Many francophone immigrants leave [the Canadian province of] Quebec as a result of their being unable to find work as well as a welcoming situation and culture. And often, it is [the Canadian province] of Ontario which welcomes them.
Many have dreamed of moving to Quebec in order to live a better life in French. The governmental ads make them believe that they have a guaranteed future and possibilities in the French language, as a result of an immigrant selection process which favors them.
Once arrived, they are often faced with an entirely different reality. “In Quebec, I was immediately classified [in people’s eyes] as a francophone immigrant, which is something I have not experienced here in Toronto when faced with an Anglophone population, even though I do have an accent when speaking English”, remembers George Achi, a man of Lebanese origin, with Frech [i.e. France] nationality.
Despite having a good job, he left Montreal (a city he liked), but which reminded him too much of the type of questions regarding identity which he was familiar with as a result of his Lebanese and French past.
“In Toronto, I can be anonymous and I don’t have to ask myself all these questions I was trying to escape and which are difficult to live with.”
George Achi
The Sibileau-Brossas couple, originally from France, emigrated to Mississauga a few months ago, Mississauga being a suburb of Toronto. Thomas Brossas’ business moved its airport activities to Pearson international airport in Toronto, which is the biggest airport in Canada.
His wife Marine went with him.
In Quebec, people are always in defensive mode with regards to protection of their language. That’s all right, but there is a sort of crust that needs to be pierced. Other cultures are not as easily allowed in.
Marine Sibileau
Toronto is the city which is full of communities while Quebec belongs to French Quebecquers/ethnic French Canadians”, she says.
Jobs which are difficult to find
A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) supports this. Even if there are two times fewer immigrants in Montreal than in Toronto, whre they represent more than 46 % of the population, they are unable to find work in their field or worse, cannot find a job at all.
This “metropolis of talent”, the study’s authors note, is nevertheless a young francophone city with universities and innovation, which is culturally alive/vibrant. This is a paradox, concludes the AECD study.
According to the OECD, the unemployment rate among recent immigrants in Montreal (i.e. arrived within the last five years) is greater than 18 %, while it is a bit over 14 % among those having settled in Toronto. After 10 years, immigrants in Toronto do however have an unemployment rate similar to that of the overall/global population in Montreal.
Statistics Canada has also noted some linguistic disparities : 16 % of recent immigrants to Quebec who speak only English are unemployed, a number which climbs to 23 % among those speaking only French.
A “francoboom” near Toronto, Ontario
It is in Mississauga [Ontario] that Patrick Bertolin was able to find a job in his field. PHOTO : DANNY BRAÜN
-----------------
In Mississauga, the Catholic elementary school Saint-Jean-Baptiste is undergoing a “francoboom “. On its grounds, large spaces have been covered with concrete in order to welcome six mobile classes which have been created in response to the new registrations/students.
The students are as often from mixed francophone-anglophone families as from families of new immigrants who want their children to learn French, which provides a distinct advantage in Ontario.
That is where Patrick Bertolin, a man originally from Cameroun who was selected as an immigrant by the government of Quebec, found a job corresponding to his skills, which is an experience not found in Quebec [i.e. which was something he did not find in Quebec].
“ If I had found a job corresponding to my skills or even if I had been called for a mere one or two face-to-face interviews, I would have stayed [in Quebec] and told myself that I would eventually get my chance”, says the teacher.
The only jobs I found [in Quebec] were a night job in a factory or working at Dollarama [i.e. business a bit similar to Walmart] at 10 $ per hour.
Patrick Bertolin
“It’s unfortunate”, he says. “The Quebec government should realize that there is a problem.”
In total, nearly a quarter of immigrants to Quebec leave for other Canadian provinces, particularly Ontario.
SOURCE 1 is in French (translation is by the OP).
----------------------
Why Quebec needs more immigrants
Something quite predictable happened when Quebec’s Liberal government recently suggested increasing the number of immigrants the province accepts each year to 60,000 from the current 50,000. The blowback was immediate, the critics apoplectic, and the government’s retreat expeditious.
Quebec’s population is aging faster than anywhere in Canada outside the Atlantic provinces. Its work force is shrinking, creating labour shortages in some sectors. The novelty of policies aimed at getting Quebeckers to have more babies - cheap daycare and generous parental leave - has worn off. Quebec’s birth rate fell for the sixth year in a row in 2015. At 1.6 births per woman of child-bearing age, it’s down from a 2009 peak of 1.73, and now matches the national average.
A recent government white paper warned that maintaining immigration at the current 50,000 annual level would lead to a “marked” decline in the working-age population between 2016 and 2031, putting a damper on economic growth and everything that flows from it. Starting at 60,000 immigrants a year, however, the work force would continue to grow well into the future.
A healthy discussion of immigration thresholds would consider these factors while reviewing the longer-term evidence. Since the adoption of the province’s Bill 101 in 1977, requiring the children of immigrants to attend French-language schools, several cohorts of new Quebeckers have embraced la langue de Molière and successfully integrated into francophone society. The proportion of Quebeckers speaking French at home remained a robust 82.5 per cent in 2011, while almost 95 per cent of all Quebeckers could speak French, according to Statistics Canada.Yet, despite such reassuring evidence, opposition politicians showed the usual reflexes in denouncing the government for merely raising the possibility of an increase in immigration. Granted, immigration is a touchier subject in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada, given francophone Quebeckers’s perception of themselves as a threatened minority within North America. As the debate about the former Parti Québécois government’s Charter of Values demonstrated in 2013, the perceived threat is not merely linguistic, but cultural and religious, as well.
Still, the opposition PQ and Coalition Avenir du Québec didn’t focus on those aspects as much as the short-term economic costs of accepting more immigrants. Curiously, this is the same argument raised by prominent Quebec economist Pierre Fortin, who also warns against an increase in immigration quotas.
But while it’s true that immigrants to Quebec have initially tended to face more difficulty integrating into the work force - employer discrimination and lack of English-language skills being among the main reasons - they also tend to catch up by the five- or 10-year mark. And Quebec’s new policy of choosing immigrants in line with qualifications and labour market requirements will only hasten the integration of newcomers.
Besides, immigration is the opposite of a short-term policy. It is a long-term investment in a society’s future dynamism and prosperity. A community that invests in its immigrants will see its immigrants, and their descendants, invest in it. If Canada is an example of anything, it is this.
Slow or zero population growth is a recipe for decline - economic, social, cultural. Choosing this path out of the fear that more immigration might not only change the face, but the fibre, of Quebec society would be to condemn the province to increasing marginalization within Canada and the world.
As much as Quebec sometimes feels closer to Europe than to the rest of Canada, Europe would be the wrong model for Quebec on immigration policy. A quarter of all immigrants who arrived in Quebec in the decade up to 2013 subsequently left the province, some because they sensed an unwelcoming environment. Quebec needs to devote more resources not only to attracting immigrants, but to retaining them after they arrive.
So what if it means some will need to learn English (in addition to French) to successfully integrate into the workplace? That is a reality faced by most Quebeckers, whether native-born or not. Most professions these days, especially if they involve technology, require some functionality in English.
No francophone Quebecker I know considers unilingualism an asset, yet the suggestion that immigrants should learn both of Canada’s official languages sparks howls of protest from the PQ and CAQ, which seek to make political hay out of Quebeckers’ insecurities. It’s an insult to the resourcefulness of Quebeckers who, over four centuries, have maintained their linguistic identity in the face of far bigger cultural threats than the presence of bilingual immigrants.
If anything, Quebec needs more of them.
SOURCE 2. (NB: "La langue de Moliere refers to the French language -i.e. the language of the dramatist Moliere).
Additional links:
-Just as a reminder, I think it is important to note recent history involving the so-called Quebec 'Charter of Values': this was a hotly debated proposal, unprecedented in Canada, to prohibit public employees from wearing religious symbols (e.g. Muslim hijab, Sikh turban, etc.). This was proposed in 2013 by the then-provincial government of the Parti Québecois (i.e. francophone separatist party in the province). This idea became popular among (i.e. white) French Canadians and was proposed by the Parti Québecois as a means of increasing its popularity at a time when the idea of Quebec separating from Canada was not winning as many votes.
(1) The Dangerous Logic of Quebec's 'Charter of Values'. (OP note: the article states that Quebec has seen a 'leftward shift' in its politics since the 1960s which is not really accurate. There was a leftward shift in the 1960s but since the 1990s or so politics in this province has shifted pretty far the the right. I can provide receipts for this if anyone is interested...)
(2) Quebec values charter: Is it a political game changer for the PQ?
-An apparent consequence of Quebec's debate on the 'Charter of Values' was an increase in attacks on Muslim women.
OP is f*cking ashamed to be French and a Quebecquer.