Canadian Government Initiates New Francophone Community

The Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller has announced to include a new Francophone Communities Initiatives to support the efforts of promotion and recruitment to address labour shortages.

It highlighted the renewal of the Welcoming Francophone Communities initiatives where 14 Canadian communities will continue to receive funding to help integrate French-speaking newcomers.

The new initiative will expand to allow the Canadian Government to select 20 more Canadian communities to support French-speaking newcomers. It targeted 4.4% French speaking residents admissions outside of Quebec was surpassed in December of 2023, reaching about 4.7%.

IRCC has previously announced the target is 6% for 2024, 7% in 2025 and 8% for 2026. Also, it announced the new selection criteria i.e. Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) for candidates who applies through the Express Entry Program. The candidates need to prove a proficiency in French equivalent to a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 7 or higher, in reading, listening, writing and speaking.

Government of Canada's Action Plan for Official Languages 2023-2028, which commits more than $80 million CAD over five years to various francophone immigration and retention activities, including consolidating Francophone integration pathways.