Quebec’s French Language Commissioner, Benoit Dubreuil, is proposing a federal-provincial agreement to direct French-speaking asylum claimants to settle in Quebec. The goal is to reduce the costs of linguistic integration, suggesting those who speak English should go to other provinces. Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Frechette has not dismissed this recommendation and believes it needs review. Quebec’s government sees non-French-speaking immigration as a potential threat to Quebecois culture and is considering limiting economic immigration to French-speaking immigrants by 2026. According to the commissioner’s report, a significant percentage of immigrants in Quebec struggle with the French language, and the proportion of residents unable to speak conversational French has increased from 5.6% in 2016 to 7.2% in 2021.
