The study was commissioned by the provincial Ministry of Immigration in 2019 and presented in April 2021, a month before Coalition government Avenir Québec introduced Bill 96. It was never made public and received by CBC News under the Access to Information Act. As part of the qualitative study, the researchers interviewed 58 adults who had recently arrived in Quebec from countries around the world. The most common were Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Burundi. The focus was particularly on the changes that could be made to a government-funded French program to improve outcomes for those without a strong educational background. Some of the respondents could not read in their mother tongue. The challenges documented in the report range from practical aspects of settling in a new place, such as finding a job and a place to live, to dealing with the trauma experienced by newcomers to their countries of origin. Garine Papazian-Zohrabian, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the Université de Montréal, conducted the research with the help of her students. Garine Papazian-Zohrabian is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at the Université de Montréal. He says young immigrants to Quebec often leave behind difficult and dangerous situations and need more than six months to learn basic French. (Submitted by Janet Cleveland) Papazian-Zohrabian said she was surprised and disappointed when she first saw what was on Bill 96. “They asked for it, they paid for it and they ignored the report that came out of it,” Papazian-Zohrabian told the government in an interview. The Ministry of Immigration did not respond to a request for comment.
“Inhuman” and “biased”
In Papazian-Zohrabian’s view, “ignoring the needs of the most vulnerable migrant population” is “inhumane and at the same time discriminatory”. Papazian-Zohrabian initially conveyed her frustration interview in La Presse last month. The Ministry of Immigration did not share the report with journalist Rima Elkouri. A total of 147 pages, the document includes a list of recommendations to help immigrants learn French. The first recommendation is to give students time to settle in Quebec before starting French lessons. Others include working more closely with community groups to help newcomers, especially those with past traumas, and reviewing learning approaches from French as a language course. Despite the concerns of Papazian-Zohrabian and those they raised other expert and community groups working with new entrants, the legislation was passed last month without amending the six-month clause. Dina Souleiman, executive director of Welcome Collective, which helps asylum seekers in their first months – to get furniture and other basic items – said the new rules present “another hurdle we will add to help someone integrate”. “I do not think you need to be a professional in this field to understand that it makes no sense,” he said.
Confusion about how the law is enforced
Under the new rules, refugees and migrants moving to Quebec will be allowed to access services in English or another language for the first six months after arrival. After that, government services will be provided exclusively in French, with the exception of certain areas, such as health services and public safety. Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, who was recently appointed the province’s first French language minister, was in charge of Bill 96. (Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press) Of it is not clear yet how the rules for young immigrants will be implemented in the bill 96. Élisabeth Gosselin-Bienvenue, a spokeswoman for the French language minister, Simon Jolin-Barrete, recently told the CBC that the legislation would not take effect for another year. Over the next six months, the province will set up a new French-language ministry, which will formulate a language policy for the entire public service and all municipalities and government agencies. Papazian-Zohrabian said she hoped whoever won the next election would be “flexible and understanding” in enforcing the law.
