The Commissioner of Official Languages of Canada, Graham Fraser, together with his New Brunswick counterpart Katherine d'Entremont and Ontario's French Language Services Commissioner François Boileau, have urged the federal and provincial governments to increase their efforts to increase immigration in Francophone communities outside Quebec.

Francophones make up about four per cent of Canada’s population outside Quebec, but only two per cent of immigrants who move to provinces other than Quebec are francophone. Hoping to bridge these figures, Commissioner Fraser and his provincial counterparts have advocated four principles they believe would help:

• Immigration must help maintain, and even increase, the demographic weight of Francophone minority communities in Canada.
• Federal and provincial immigration policies and programs must be designed and tailored to address Francophone immigrant recruitment, integration and retention needs specific to the different contexts of Francophone minority communities across Canada.
• Strong federal-provincial-community partnerships, long-term strategies for the selection, recruitment, welcoming, education, integration and retention of immigrants, and sufficient resources are needed to ensure that immigration supports the development and vitality of Francophone minority communities.
• Governments must develop an evaluation and accountability framework to measure progress achieved and ensure attainment of immigration objectives in Francophone minority communities.

"Immigration is crucial to the vitality, indeed the future, of official language minority communities," said Commissioner Fraser. "We've reached a turning point. In the past year, the federal government has renewed its commitment to addressing the shortage of Francophone immigrants. Meanwhile, we are just months away from one of the most substantial immigration system reforms in our history. Right now, we have an opportunity to transform immigration into a truly positive force for Francophone communities outside Quebec. We cannot let it pass us by."

In spite of the recent closing of the French Significant Benefit Program , the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander, however, was recently quoted as saying that his department is hoping to increase francophone immigration to communities outside Quebec. Just last month, Mr. Alexander stated “Our government is proud to promote Francophone immigration to Canada, which will help to ensure our communities remain vibrant and prosperous. We will continue to work with our partners to attract Francophone immigrants with the skills our labour market and economy needs.”