Quebec ends incentive for part-time francization

Photo: Graham Hugues The Canadian Press The decision by Minister Jean-François Roberge, who will abolish a $28 per day incentive for people registered part-time in francization courses, has had the effect of a small bomb on francization organizations.

A major change is coming for the tens of thousands of people — most of them immigrants — who have started a francization process in Quebec. Le Devoir has learned that François Legault’s government will abolish the financial assistance offered to them to take part-time lessons as of the end of September.

This is the first major gesture by the Minister of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, Jean-François Roberge, in his new role.

The elected official, who inherited this important portfolio last week, informed the main partners in the sector on Friday. His decision, which will end a $28 per day incentive for people registered part-time in francization courses as of September 23, has had the effect of a small bomb among francization organizations.

Mr. Roberge justifies his choice by highlighting the “enthusiasm” that Francisation Québec has faced since its launch in 2023. “We wanted to encourage registrations, so we gave an allowance, compensation, for part-time work. There, the demand exploded. And so we think we no longer need to do that,” explained Minister Roberge in an interview with Le Devoir.

Launched in 2019, the “incentive financial assistance for certain French courses offered in Quebec” had served more than 50,000 people registered for part-time courses in the first year of operation of Francisation Québec. This represents approximately two-thirds of students in the process of francization, according to figures provided by Minister Roberge’s office.

However, according to the latest news, the waiting list to take francization lessons in Quebec was not getting any shorter. In a lengthy evaluation report filed last May, the Commissioner of the French Language, Benoît Dubreuil, noted that in its first year of operation, Francisation Québec had only been able to process half of its registration requests.

Faced with this growing challenge, Jean-François Roberge decided to redirect the “expense” that the allowance represented so that it would instead be used to provide services. “Instead of using money from Francisation Québec to provide allowances, which are no longer necessary, we will use the money to do francization,” he said. “So, in the long term, we will accomplish our mandate better, because we will have francized more people.” »

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“15,000 more people”

According to our information, Quebec will soon put an end to the salary compensation paid to employees of companies with 100 or more employees. Financial assistance for full-time francization, which is equivalent to $230 per week, remains. The $9 allowance per child offered to pay for daycare services during the course delivery, too.

The Legault government estimates that it will be able to free up “$65 or $67 million” over a year. These sums will be “100% reallocated” to Francisation Québec, in order to “increase the course offering” and hire teachers to reduce waiting times, promises the new Minister of Immigration.

This will be in addition to the funds dedicated to francization in the latest action plan on the future of the French language. “We think we will be able to francize about 15,000 more people in a year,” Mr. Roberge estimated.

“Surprise”

Reached Friday, the Regroupement des organismes en francization du Québec did not hide its “surprise” and “disappointment” at Minister Roberge's decision. “Announcing this a week before it goes into effect, it's bordering on disrespect,” said the organization's general director, Carlos Carmona, in an interview.

According to him, the announcement risks causing a “loss” of interest in French language courses. “Because the work or schedules don't coincide,” he exemplified.

A francization teacher with a doctorate in second language teaching, Tania Longpré says she is disappointed that barely five years after the allocation was introduced, the government has chosen to eliminate it. “We’ve been waiting for incentives for a long time, and now that francization is becoming a major integration tool, we’ve been shown the opposite for several weeks,” she said.

Never mind, the government will move forward, maintains Jean-François Roberge, who is not afraid of a loss of interest. “The trend is gone, people want to become francized,” he concluded.