The Quebec government plans to present a bill on Thursday to define a new integration model for immigrants, with the aim of making it clear that Quebec is a nation, the immigration minister announced.
Jean-François Roberge, Minister of Quebec, responsible for immigration and the French language, said Tuesday that it was “time” that the government created mechanisms to ensure that immigrants or “people who identify themselves as members of cultural minorities,” adhere to what he described as what he described as the common culture of Quebec.
“We don’t want ghettos. We want a society,” Roberge told reporters in the city of Quebec.
Interculturalism: the integration model that the provincial government favors the multicultural approach of Canada, emphasizes the primacy of the Francophone culture of Quebec in a pluralistic society.
However, the absence of a legal framework for interculturalism has made the integration model insufficient, Roberge said on Tuesday, referring to the possible violations of the secularism law in some public schools.
“We have a culture. We have some democratic values. Men and women are the same. The people who come here must accept that,” he said. “Then we want them to contribute to society.”
Although Roberge did not provide details about the next bill, he said it would be based on the principle of reciprocity, and pointed out that Quebec is “building a new social contract.”
When asked to explain how immigrants want to contribute specifically, Roberge said they want “leave their communities and talk to us” and attend national events.
“We want to see them in our programs. We want to see them in our films. We want to see them everywhere. They are welcome,” Roberge said.
Prime Minister François Legault spent most of a press conference on the afternoon on the tariff threat of US President Donald Trump, which, if imposed, would devastate Quebec’s economy.
But Legault said that despite the imminent economic crisis, he was not willing to forget what he described as his other main priority: to protect Quebec values and Quebec identity.
“I think we can work in both priorities,” he said.
In conflict with cuts to integration programs
According to the data provided to Radio-Canada by the French Language Commissioner of the province, the number of people registered in French courses essentially more than doubled in a year. In 2023, between June 1 and September 30, there were 13,591 students enrolled in classes. For the same period in 2024, the number of students was 32,040.
But in September, the Government of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) announced that it would be Finish financial support For people registered in French courses in a part-time and reduce funds for learning in French so that they coincide with the amounts assigned in 2020-2021.
The decision led to the cancellation of courses in French throughout the province, with many teachers who face the loss of employment.
In December, after the public protest, the government promised $ 10 million To allow school service centers to reopen the French classes that were forced to close due to the lack of funds.
The leader of Pari Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, said Tuesday that “it is a bit late” for the Legault government to introduce an integration model after reducing the expense in French programs and not having complete powers on immigration.
“If Canada does not agree with that model … How do you defend themselves within Canada while knowing that Canada will impose its model and its integration models?” Said St-Pierre Plamondon. “That is the fundamental contradiction of CAQ and has never been resolved.”
The Quabec Solideaire, Ruba Ghazal, also referred to what he called the incoherence of government messages, saying that Roberge’s bill seems to announce mainly “good principles.”
She said the government should stop “pointing to immigration as the cause of all the problems that the Government creates”, such as problems related to public services and housing.
The interim leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Marc Tanguay, said that his party is open to discussing integration problems, but the bill “will not advance Quebec” if the government continues to cut millions of dollars from the educational system.
“Integration is, first of all, the French language, and they are not giving classes,” Tanguay said.
