In an effort to increase the number of foreign students attending Francophone towns across Canada, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Marc Miller today announced the launch of a new immigration pilot program.
The Francophone Minority Communities Pilot Program (FMCSP), according to an IRCC press release, will increase acceptance rates and ensure that students from the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa are treated fairly in the present program.
Students and their families “will be exempted from having to demonstrate that they will leave Canada at the end of their temporary stay,” according to the IRCC, in order to accomplish this. Furthermore, the necessary financial threshold will be changed to correspond with 75% of the municipality’s low-income cut-off in the area where the institution’s main campus is situated.
These students will also have a direct pathway to permanent resident status after they complete their programs and access to settlement services.
The pilot will open on August 26, 2024, and will accept 2,300 students in the first year. This cap will be reassessed in August 2025.
Who can apply?
To be eligible, students must have a letter of acceptance from a participating Designated Learning Institution (DLI) that says they are applying under the FMCSP. The study program must meet the following criteria:
- be at the post-secondary level;
- be full-time;
- be 2 years or more of study;
- lead to a degree or diploma; and
- have French as the primary language of instruction (over 50% of the classes are taught in French).
Students must also be citizens of these eligible countries:
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cabo Verde
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Dominica
- Republic of the Congo
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Gabon
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Lebanon
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Morocco
- Niger
- Rwanda
- Saint Lucia
- São Tomé and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Togo
- Tunisia
Wives, common-law partners, or dependant children may accompany students enrolled in the FMCSP. Participants’ spouses and common-law partners might qualify for a study permit, open work permit, or visitor visa.
Notably, many of the most recent modifications to Canada’s international student program do not apply to students enrolled in the Pilot. For instance, participants are not subject to the IRCC’s processing cap for applications from international students, nor are they obliged to get a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL) from their DLI.
New communities added to the Welcoming Francophone Communities Initiative
Minister Miller also announced the addition of 10 new francophone communities to the Welcoming Francophone Communities (WFC) initiative. This initiative aims to support the reception and settlement of Francophone newcomers in select Francophone and Acadian communities across Canada. Settlement services for newcomers through this initiative (including community building, skills development, employment assistance and more) are provided by IRCC, and the participating community.
In addition to the 14 communities already participating in the initiative, Miller announced the following communities will now also be included:
| Province | New Communities Selected |
|---|---|
| British Columbia | Nanaimo |
| Manitoba | Red River (Ritchot, Salaberry, Montcalm, and St-Pierre-Jolys) |
| Nova Scotia | Chéticamp (including St. Joseph du Moine) |
| New Brunswick | Belle-Baie (including Bathurst and the Pabineau First Nation) |
| Caraquet (including Rivière du Nord and Hautes-Terres) | |
| Restigouche West Region (Saint-Quentin and Kedgwick) | |
| Saskatchewan | Prince Albert |
| Ontario | Cornwall |
| Cochrane District (Route 11 Corridor) | |
| London |
This brings the total number of communities participating in the WCF to 24. Canda’s renewal of this initiative is part of a wider Francophone immigration strategy which looks to balance the use of English and French (both official languages) in the country—particularly the use of French outside of Quebec. These are further detailed in comments made at today’s release by Liane Roy, President of the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne du Canada (FCFA):
“The WFC initiative is an eloquent example of the commitment of Francophone and Acadian communities to the overall success of immigrants…. [communities] have set up activities to promote living together and inclusion, and have strengthened the attractiveness of our communities with the aim of increasing Francophone immigration”
Canadas francophone immigration policy
The two pilot programs are part of Canada’s Policy on Francophone Immigration. Earlier this year the department announced that it was targeting that 6% of all newcomers to Canada are French speaking.
Additionally, Canada’s Official Language Act highlights the obligation for the immigration minister to adopt “a policy on Francophone immigration to enhance the vitality of French linguistic minority communities in Canada, including by restoring and increasing their demographic weight.”
The new programs are one measure IRCC is undertaking to increase the number of francophone immigrants. It is also expected that the department will issue a high number of Invitations to Apply to Express Entrycandidates with French language proficiency through category-based selection rounds of invitations.