French-speaking Canadian province has unique solution to tackle declining population
The Canadian province of Quebec is stepping up efforts to increase immigration from Ukraine, emphasizing French-language skills, but has expressed concern that some agencies offering consulting services might be misinforming the Ukrainian public.
Staff from the province’s immigration bureau in Vienna will be in Kyiv Feb. 4-5 to explain the selection process and criteria for immigrants who fit the skilled-worker category.
“It is indeed the first time we have organized information activities or advertised in the Ukraine. We of course have representatives who visit Kyiv regularly to interview candidates, but we have never held general information sessions in Kyiv,” said Claude Fradette, a spokesman for Quebec Immigration and Cultural Communities.
Following the Canada-Quebec Accord of 1991, Quebec has been the only Canadian province to set the levels and composition of immigration. The central and provincial governments share sponsorship and asylum cases, but Quebec decides the fate of those who are coming over to find work or open businesses. The main three factors taken into account are the applicant’s age, work skills and the ability to speak French.
The Vienna office, which began organizing information sessions only three years ago, covers Central and Eastern Europe. First they focused on Romania and Bulgaria. “Most of the requests we receive still come from Romania and from Bulgaria. Approximately 75 percent of the 5,500 candidates selected in 2005 came from these two countries,” Fradette said.
Last year the Vienna office turned to Russia, and in 2006 they are coming to Ukraine. In 2005, just over 400 candidates were taken from Ukraine. This year the goal will be a 25 percent increase, which Fradette calls “a normal prudent increase.” The interest is primarily in “permanent immigration, but also the international student and temporary worker.”
Ukrainians rank only 40th in terms of the largest ethnic communities in Quebec, well behind Italians, French, Haitians and Libyans, who make up the top four. Currently the province is home to only 5,000 Ukrainian immigrants, plus another 19,000 second and third generation Ukrainian immigrants.
Altogether, Quebec currently admits anywhere from 45,000 to 50,000 new permanent residents per year. The information program is being conducted just “about everywhere,” said Fradette. “We don’t want to concentrate on only one or two regions.”
The language issue
What the government in Montreal does want to concentrate on, however, is getting these new immigrants to embrace the province’s Francophone culture: “Quebec society is the only French society in North America, it has its own cultural channels, arts, media, education, politics, a different law system and specific challenges,” said Fradette. “So, the Quebec government selects immigrants regarding its specific needs.”
To make sure that Ukrainian immigrants’ language skills fit the bill, the bureau in Vienna will refer candidates to Kyiv’s Institut Francais.
“This is a guarantee of the quality of the knowledge of the French language. It is very important to them,” said Aisha Kerroubi, the director of the Institut Francais, which is financed by the French government. For example, the institute tries to bring applicants up to the second of six levels so that they can get by in a French-speaking environment.
In 1995, the people of Quebec narrowly rejected independence from the rest of the country, and many expect another referendum within the next few years. Interestingly, it was the non-French-speaking foreigners who were blamed by nationalists for the referendum’s failure.
Fradette dismissed any separatist sentiments behind the new information program in Eastern Europe, calling potential immigrants’ knowledge of French “very important but not eliminatory” in the application process.
Moreover, Fradette pointed out that applicants still have to go through the (federal government’s) foreign embassies for health and security checks before getting final approval.
Once an immigrant receives a permanent resident visa, he can move to any part of Canada that he likes and apply for citizenship in three years. The only difference “is that they were selected under Quebec’s criteria, which represent Quebec’s needs for its development,” Fradette said. “In the end, the vast majority – over 80 percent – tend to stay in the province or region they first choose.”
Middlemen
Another reason why the people from Vienna are visiting Kyiv next month is to make sure that Ukrainians are getting the right information about their immigration prospects to Quebec.
“We are getting the impression that unreliable information about our criteria is sometimes being circulated in the Ukraine. We want to handle the problem before it gets out of hand,” said Fradette. According to Fradette, the situation is not unique to Ukraine.
“Some candidates, for instance, are being told to overestimate their knowledge of French or English so that they can get to the stage of being interviewed,” he said. “This is very bad advice because such candidates are often refused during the interviews. Some intermediaries benefit from this, as they receive their full fees when a candidate is invited for his or her interview.”
The Kyiv agency Atorney offers people wanting to immigrate to Quebec help with filling out the paperwork, legal advice and preparation for the interview for $3,500. Customers don’t get their money back if they were refused for anything “other than a legal reason,” said Stanislav Umanets, who works for the agency. According to Umanets, the key to success is meeting the age, experience and language requirements and not having a police record or serious health problems. In the two years the company has been operating, he said, they have not had a single refusal.
“Applying through a consultant is fine too, but they have to know that it does not open special doors,” said Fradette. The same criteria are used for all applicants, with no favors shown to those who use intermediaries. “Those who are interested in Quebec can get all of the information available on our Web site (www.immigration-quebec.ca/ukraine) and can evaluate online, free of charge, their chances of being selected.”
Another Kyiv-based firm, Canadian Immigration Services, offers similar assistance to its clients. “I am a connecting link between the client and the Canadian consultant,” said company representative Irina Osenko, referring to the firm’s overseas partner company, DVS Group. According to Osenko, knowledge of French is a must and the client is prepared for the interview over a two-month period. Consultation on filling out the paperwork costs $500 alone, with the price rising as high as $4,500 for other services. Osenko said her firm charges clients “in stages,” and that no one has ever asked for their money back in the three years since the firm began concentrating on Quebec.
