Michael D. Chong Chair JUNE 2015 41st PARLIAMENT, SECOND SESSION Published under the authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons SPEAKER’S PERMISSION Reproduction of the proceedings of the House of Commons and its Committees, in whole or in part and in any medium, is hereby permitted provided that the reproduction is accurate and is not presented as official. [...] The purpose of the study was to better understand the role francophone immigration plays in enhancing the vitality and supporting the development of FMC and to study the impact of federal programs designed to recruit, welcome and integrate francophone immigrants into FMC. [...] Between 2006 and 2011, francophone immigrants increased to 18% of the total population of immigrants.33 Increasing employers’ awareness of the economic benefits of linguistic duality seems to be a sound strategy for increasing the recruitment of French-speaking immigrants and stimulating the local economy while contributing to the vitality of Canada’s linguistic duality. [...] The same dire warning has been issued by the Commissioner of Official Languages, who stressed the importance of acting now on immigration to ensure the future of francophone communities.iii Despite these alarming statistics, there is no sign that the government is prepared to actually get involved to redress the situation. [...] This situation is alarming to many stakeholders, including the Association canadienne-française de l’Alberta (ACFA), which fears that federal commitments to francophone communities are being diluted.iv The initial figures from the Express Entry system provided to the Committee by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration are indeed alarming: less than 1% of francophone immigrants in the first po