CIMM – Canada-Quebec Accord – March 24, 2022

Key Messages

• Canada and Quebec have a long history of collaborating to advance shared and respective immigration priorities.
• IRCC’s bilateral relationship with Quebec is defined by the 1991 Canada-Quebec Accord, and guided by the principle that immigration should support the preservation of Quebec’s demographic weight in Canada and its distinct identity.
• The Accord is designed to ensure collaboration between both governments throughout the immigration process, in all immigration categories.

Supplementary Messages

Canada-Quebec Accord: Federal grant to Quebec

• The Quebec government is responsible for the administration, design and delivery of settlement and integration services including pre-arrival, information and orientation, French language training, refugee resettlement services, labour market orientation, foreign credential recognition and support services.
• Quebec is the only province that receives an annual grant from the federal government. In all other provinces and territories, the Department provides annual settlement funding directly to settlement service providers in their respective jurisdictions through a third-party delivery system.
• The funding formula is based on the percentage increase in total net federal expenditures and the percentage increase in the number of non-Francophone immigrants who arrive in Quebec compared to the previous year.
• Pursuant to the terms of the Canada-Quebec Accord, the grant cannot diminish from one year to the next. It can only increase or remain constant. The amount provided in any given year becomes the baseline for the calculation the following year.

Responsive – Federal grant

• The amount of the grant payable to Quebec under the Accord is reflected in the Main Estimates every year. The annual increase in the grant is reflected in the Supplementary Estimates (C).
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Supporting Facts and Figures

Grant under the Canada-Quebec Accord

• Value of Canada-Quebec Accord Grant for last 5 years and upcoming year:

Resettlement and Asylum

Responsive – Irregular migrants at the border

• The majority of asylum claimants between designated ports of entry, both prior to COVID-19 border closures and since the border measures related to COVID-19 were lifted for asylum claimants on November 21, have been intercepted in Quebec.
• The Government of Canada has put in place operational contingency plans to manage volumes at the border and officials are working with Quebec to respond to the new flow of asylum seekers.
• Quebec has done substantial work in terms of managing the flow of irregular migrants and in providing temporary housing, social services and education to asylum seekers.
• The federal government remains committed to working collaboratively with the Government of Quebec to ensure asylum claimants have access to adequate interim housing and other essential services when they first arrive in Canada.

Responsive – Refugee Resettlement and Afghan Commitments

• Quebec is an active supporter of Canada’s humanitarian tradition through the resettlement of persons in need of protection. In 2021, despite the impact of COVID-19 on travel restrictions, more than 1600 resettled refugees – Government assisted and privately sponsored – have settled in Quebec.
• As of the end of 2021, more than 200 Afghan nationals have settled in Quebec so far.

Responsive – Temporary public policy to grant permanent residence to certain refugee claimants selected by Quebec working in the health care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic (Guardian Angels)

• The Guardian Angels initiative - a joint initiative between our two governments - provides a temporary pathway to permanent residence for refugee claimants who worked in the health-care sector providing direct patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was implemented between December 14, 2020 and August 31, 2021.
• In 2021, IRCC admitted close to 1,400 persons, who reside in Quebec, under this initiative. IRCC continues to process the remaining applicants in this inventory, and expects to complete this by the end of 2022.

Responsive – Family Reunification

• I am aware that Quebec has indicated an interest in selecting members of the family class who intend to immigrate to Quebec.
• Any proposed changes will require further analysis in the context of existing agreements with Quebec.
• We would also need to consider whether it would be logical to create different rules for family sponsorship, depending on the province of residence of the Canadian sponsor, considering that it would be easy for sponsors to change their province of residence to circumvent the rules.

Background

Canada-Quebec Accord: Roles and Responsibilities

• The objectives of the Accord are to preserve Quebec’s demographic importance within Canada and support the integration of immigrants to that province, while respecting its distinct identity.
• To this end, Quebec can receive a percentage of all immigrants coming to Canada equal to the percentage of its demographic weight in Canada (currently 23%), and can exceed that figure by 5% of the Canadian total for demographic reasons Quebec has yet to reach this proportion and, for 2021, its levels plan set a target for 12% of all planned arrivals into Canada; the 2022 plan aims to increase this percentage (actual percentage depends on levels range to be set for Canada).
• While the Government of Canada is responsible for establishing the total number of immigrants for the country as a whole on an annual basis, it takes into consideration Quebec’s advice on the number of immigrants that it wishes to receive in all classes.
• The federal government administers permanent resident programs. Quebec selects economic immigrants and resettled refugees destined to that province and is also involved in selection of temporary resident permit holder class applicants and administers family class undertakings for applicants destined to Quebec.
• The federal government and Quebec jointly provide a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) to employers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (led by ESDC for the Government of Canada). Quebec is also responsible for the issuance of the Certificat d’acceptation du Quebec (CAQ), required for temporary foreign workers who require LMIA and where the laws of Quebec require that the foreign national hold a CAQ as well as for the applicants in the International Student Program except for those intending to study in the context of a federal assistance program for developing countries. The Government of Canada remains responsible for determining the admissibility (for health, security, and criminality) of all newcomers to Quebec and for issuing their visas and permits.

Settlement and Integration Services

• While Quebec is not accountable to the Government of Canada for how it spends the grant, the Accord requires that Quebec must provide settlement and integration services that are comparable to the rest of the country.
• In order to assess whether these services are comparable, Canada and Québec regularly study reception and integration services provided by Canada and Quebec to ensure that similar types of services are available to all permanent residents who settle in Canada and in Quebec.
• To fulfill this mandate, since 2014 IRCC and its Quebec counterpart, the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, have jointly carried out five comparative studies, which consistently concluded that there was an overall high level of alignment of settlement and integration services between Canada and Quebec.
• The next comparative study will cover the period from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021, including key changes in settlement services delivery that occurred during the pandemic year, and a set of new indicators to improve comparability of results across jurisdictions. The report is expected to be tabled at the Comité mixte in winter 2022.
• The grant to Quebec is calculated based on a formula in the Accord and it includes settlement, resettlement and administration costs.
• In all other provinces and territories outside Quebec, annual settlement funding allocations are determined using the National Settlement Funding Formula, which was established in consultation with the provinces and territories. The Formula is based on the proportion of immigrants landing in each province and territory, giving additional weighting for refugees to account for their unique settlement need, along with a capacity-building amount for each jurisdiction.