Learning French in Quebec Just Got Harder

On September 13, all francization students, including me, received an email from the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) informing us that all students enrolled in part-time French language courses would no longer receive financial aid as of September 23.

This cut in financial aid is just one of the many challenges facing immigrants in the process of learning French. Instead, Quebec’s government focuses on controlling the use of the language in private spaces, using coercive measures to force immigrants to learn the language in just six months.

Six out of 18 people in my French class said they wouldn’t enroll in the next session. Some decided to take a break because balancing everyday responsibilities with part-time French classes is challenging. Others felt discouraged from continuing without financial aid, preferring to work more hours as they needed the money.

“Most teachers believe this will lead to a kind of desertion of part-time courses,” says Jean-Garry Saint-Jean, a francization teacher for the MIFI and a remedial educator for Montreal’s school board.

In the email, the MIFI explained that the cut would allow Francisation Québec — the agency established in June 2023 as part of Bill 96 — to invest in opening new groups of students to meet increasing demand.

According to a report published in February by the French Language Commissioner, Benoît Dubreuil, 22,084 people were waiting to begin French classes by January 2024.

The longer wait times are due to teacher shortages (not just in francization but also at schools) and an increase in immigrants who want to take French classes.

Commissioner Dubreuil pointed out that the link between the rise in temporary foreign workers and the increased demand for French courses was foreseeable, but it doesn’t seem to have been anticipated by Francisation Québec:

“However, the significant growth in the number of temporary workers who do not speak French was not completely unforeseeable. In fact, it is the result of changes that the governments of Québec and Canada implemented without first assessing the capacity of French-language learning services to accommodate this new clientele.”

Additionally, due to new budgetary rules, many students won’t be able to take French classes this fall, and School Service Centres (SSC), which provide 40 per cent of French language courses in Québec through adult education, won’t be paid for courses they have already given for two years.

Many temporary and permanent residents learn French to integrate into Québec’s society, which means being able to express themselves at doctor’s appointments, in conversations with landlords and neighbours, buying groceries, and in their jobs, among other scenarios.

Francisation Québec’s lack of preparation to meet the demand delays students’ process to learn French and integrate into Québec society.

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In contrast to the six-month timeline set by Québec’s government for refugees and asylum seekers to learn French to access basic services, Commissioner Dubreuil notes that taking these French courses is not enough to achieve the language proficiency needed to use it in everyday life or at work.

Part-time students “may need several years of classes to achieve the beginner and intermediate levels,” the Commissioner states.

Delays are also caused by the misclassification of students. Beginners placed in advanced classes often have to repeat the course or quit, and when too many students are misplaced, it can slow the group’s progress.

“Not all community organizations have all francization levels. Sometimes, community partners will accept a student who belongs to a level they don’t offer and will simply place them in another class to keep the student, as each student represents funding for the organization,” explains Saint-Jean.

“Many topics are very repetitive. I’ve seen some subjects twice — It’s not really organized,” says Alicia García, a student who has been in the program for more than a year. “I was mixed with people at different levels, and now I’m doing the same exercises I already did in my last course.”

The class materials, such as the workbooks, are also becoming outdated. Some references in the books no longer reflect Québec’s current society.

“When I started being a francization teacher in 2006, the tools we were using were becoming outdated. The notebooks that had been around since the ‘80s had situations and references that were no longer viable. We received new materials around 10 years ago, and even today, some materials are losing their relevance.”

“With regularly updated tools, we can show society as it is,” says Saint-Jean.

“In class, the teacher doesn’t just give a French course but also teaches culture and integration, and that’s where integration starts: finding your place.”

For him, francization is the gateway to integration for newcomers. It’s a meeting place where students talk to others who are going through the same challenges, like finding housing, facing cultural shocks, and living in a society whose language is different from their mother tongue.

For Saint-Jean, francization is also a meeting place for teachers. “We share the same migratory journey, similar experiences, and even feelings linked to exile and displacement,” says Saint-Jean, who arrived in Québec 22 years ago.

More than 70,800 immigrants participated in French courses offered by MIFI from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024.

I was one of those immigrants who signed up for the francization program a year ago because I understand the importance of speaking French in Québec. I even studied French for six months in my home country, Colombia, before coming to Canada. The basic knowledge of French I had at that time allowed me to find a minimum-wage job at an arcade, which helped me survive the first year of my Master’s degree.

As an immigrant, learning French enabled me to narrate my story, build my reality in Québec, and contribute to the communities I have become a part of.

“You don’t just communicate words; you communicate values, feelings, and perceptions. These are part of who you are or the society you’re in,” says Jean Pierre Corbeil, Ph.D. in sociology and adjunct professor at Laval University’s sociology department. “It can be your single or unidimensional identity or a multifaceted identity, but it defines who you are.”

For Corbeil, learning French should be promoted in a positive way, recognizing the contributions of those for whom French isn’t their first language, as they use it in different ways in daily life.

“There’s a way to promote French as a wonderful language because it transmits history and values. It is important to show that by learning French, you will also learn more of your fellow French-speaking Quebecers.”

This stands in direct contrast to the recent television campaign launched by Québec’s government, which suggests that protecting French starts with not saying “Hi.”Lorraine O’Donnell, associate Professor with Concordia’s School of Community and Public Affairs, Research Associate and Senior Advisor, and Patrick Donovan, affiliate professor in the Department of History, at Concordia University, recommended that the Québec’s government should “promote French in a positive way by valuing the multilingualism and language practices of English-speaking Quebecers, allophones and young people, to encourage them to remain allies of the French language.”

According to Professor Corbeil, who is also an associate researcher at the Observatoire Démographique et Statistique de l’Espace Francophone, nearly 94 per cent of the population in Québec can speak French, and Montréal is the only city in Canada where more than half of immigrants can speak at least three languages. Despite this, immigrants are often blamed for the decline of French.

Although monetary incentives may motivate people to learn French exclusively for this reason, financial aid was essential for many low-income students because it covered the opportunity cost — the income they could not earn during the hours spent in class.

Before the cut, part-time students received $28 per class, with each session lasting three hours. This meant that each student earned around $9 per hour, less than the minimum wage.

“The financial aid is not sufficient, clearly. So some people will say, ‘Well, only $28 won’t change a big thing’. That could be something big in a person’s life,” says Corbeil.

For Saint-Jean, removing financial aid will reduce the number of students in class.

“Now that financial support is being withdrawn, at the slightest problem, people will stop coming to class. Some will slowly start to leave or lose interest. We may see fewer students attending francization classes in the coming sessions.”

He recalls a time when financial aid for half-time courses was cut. “In 2013-2014, for two or three sessions in a row, we closed the classes I had at Cégep Montmorency because there were only six students at the start of the session.”

The minimum required for a session is 12 students.

For Saint-Jean, financial aid will return at some point, as it did in the past. “This incentive worked very well. People came to their part-time courses, even when they were tired, even if it was difficult. They still came because there was that financial support.”

For Corbeil, the challenge for Québec’s government is to implement programs and policies that incentivize learning and use French as a means of integration.

“French will always be fragile, especially in North America. Only 2 to 3 per cent of the population speak French in North America,” explains Corbeil. 

Language became a key element of Québec’s identity following the 1960s, a decade that saw a diminishment in the Catholic Church’s power. Language filled the void religion left. 

“There were priests who went from village to village, criticizing families if they didn’t have at least 10 children because the idea was that, to protect religious beliefs, you needed more French-speaking children,” says Corbeil, who is also an associate researcher at the Observatoire Démographique et Statistique de l’Espace Francophone.

Nevertheless, Québec’s government is trying to push French into the private sphere —the language spoken at home with family and friends— rather than fomenting its use in public spaces like workplaces, stores, and services.

But the use of French in Québec’s public sphere hasn’t decreased.

“If we look at the progress over time, it’s not that bad,” explains Corbeil.

A study published in April shows that the proportion of people using only French in Québec’s public places has remained stable at 79 per cent, a level essentially unchanged since 2007. 

“It was explicitly mentioned in Bill 101 that French should be the language of the public domain, not of the private sphere, so the problem is that the current government and many observers rely on identity issues and identity problems,” says Corbeil.

“If you create and contribute to this divide between the French-speaking and English-speaking population because you consider them to be part of the problem, the unintended consequence will be that it will be more and more difficult to promote French and to create incentives to see the language as something beautiful and fun.”

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