Quebec is “going on the offensive” to protect and promote French, Minister Jean-François Roberge said Sunday as he presented a $603 million plan to counter what he described as the language’s decline.
Roberge, Quebec’s cabinet minister responsible for the French language, said the government’s nine priorities include better monitoring linguistic trends, boosting French cultural offerings and improving students’ proficiency in French.
Several of the measures are tied to immigration, including increasing the percentage of French-speaking economic immigrants and accelerating permanent residency for international students graduating from Francophone programs.
“It is important to mention that we no longer defend the French language,” Roberge said at a news conference in Montreal. “We are going to go on the offensive, no, not against anyone, but to recover the lost ground and reverse the decline of the French.”
The strategy released on Sunday includes 21 measures, some of which are already in force or have already been announced.
These include previously announced commitments to increase tuition by 30 per cent for out-of-province Canadians and force universities to ensure that most of those students are fluent in French when they graduate. The government has also said it will impose stricter French language requirements for temporary workers and permanent migrants in the economic sector.
Roberge said the vitality of French in Quebec is being challenged by a number of factors, including the growing number of non-French-speaking immigrants, the dominance of primarily English-language digital platforms and the number of students attending English universities.
Roberge spoke at the press conference alongside provincial ministers from the departments of immigration, culture, education, higher education and international relations. They and others are part of a working group focused on the future of French in Quebec.
He said the $603 million five-year plan, presented during a “difficult budget context,” shows the government’s commitment to the French language. The plan specified that funding was already provided for in the province’s financial framework.
Roberge cited data from the 2021 census showing that the percentage of Quebec residents who predominantly speak French at home decreased slightly between 2016 and 2021. At the same time, the percentage of Quebec residents whose first official language was English increased from 12 to 2021. 13 percent. percent in the same period, Statistics Canada found.
However, Quebec’s language watchdog published a study in April that found the use of French in public spaces, such as stores and restaurants, had remained stable since 2007.
Roberge said $18 million of the funds would be spent on a project with Quebec’s statistics agency to publish regular data on linguistic indicators in the province.
More than half of the funding ($320 million) will be spent on programs to ensure temporary international workers speak and learn French.
Another $64.9 million will go toward improving students’ French proficiency through programs including those that promote reading, Education Minister Bernard Drainville said.
“We have to instill in our children the desire to speak French,” he said, adding that teachers and school staff have a responsibility to encourage students to speak French in classes, hallways and during extracurricular activities.
An amount of 187.3 million dollars will be dedicated to increasing the “French-speaking cultural offer” and making it more accessible. This will include funding for Quebec cultural productions, said the province’s culture minister.
Mathieu Lacombe added that he planned to present a bill whose objective is to “guarantee our fundamental rights to access and visibility of cultural content in French in the digital environment.”
Finally, the government will spend $12.8 million to strengthen Quebecers’ attachment to the French language through initiatives such as scientific publications and communication campaigns in the French language.