Challenges Faced by Francophone Immigrants

This article discusses the challenges faced by Francophone immigrants in Toronto, Ontario. It includes summaries of three chosen articles, a discussion of the articles, and an analysis of the issues related to the articles.

Running head: CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 1
Challenges faced by Francophone immigrants
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CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 2
Part A: Summaries of the chosen articles
The chosen region for the research in Toronto, Ontario and which is situated outside
Québec. The title for the first chosen article is “Francophone immigrants face greater challenges
outside Quebec” and which is going to discuss the problem associated with French-speaking
immigrants in Toronto, Ontario. According to the article, it is evident that a person from Senegal
named Cheikh Diagne got disappointed after shifting to Toronto, Ontario. He had found that
some of the Canadian employers have properly identified his expertise and skills as an economist
and banker. But on the other hand, he had encountered an act of disrespect by most of the
Canadian employers as they found Mr. Diagne to be capable of getting jobs in customer service
and call centers. Based on the statement of Cheikh Diagne it is evident that French is not
considered to be the official language in many regions of Canada mostly outside Québec (Keung,
2017). Being French as the first language, Mr. Diagne has been facing several kinds of barriers
for integrating and accessing the services. He has also declared out of disappointment that being
a francophone immigrant, he was considered to be an unidentified minority within other minority
groups.
The title of the second chosen article is “French new wave: A cultural shift for Toronto as
‘invisible francophones’ settle in” which clearly depicts about the cultural shift that occurs for
the French-speaking population settling to Toronto, Ontario. In the article, it has been mentioned
that the French-speaking population is considered to be invisible francophones (Ross, 2015). In
spite of getting several kinds of guarantees through the Charter of Freedom and Rights, it has
been found that there were very few French schools being established in Toronto, Ontario. The
greatest fear of the French-speaking population was that whether they would be able to sustain in

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 3
Toronto by carrying forwarding their culture and language. According to the article, it is evident
that there was going to be a major cultural modification in Toronto due to the providing of
French language training (Cook, 2016). The impact of cultural isolation in Toronto was so much
that most of the people were unaware about the fact that according to Section 23 related to
Charter it is evident that the French language needs to be there for all the students attending
school (Ross, 2015).
The title of the third chosen article is “Lost for words: One in every 20 Torontonians
can’t speak English or French, study finds” that discusses the issues of the people staying in
Toronto regarding the speaking of French or English. According to the article, it is evident that
about one out of 20 Torontonians is unable to speak French or English and which results in
creating a huge language barrier for them. It has also been found that these kinds of language
barrier result in causing an issue related to the finding of the job (Kueng, 2018). Based on the
social planning report of Toronto it is evident that approximately 132, 700 residents of Toronto
do not have the capability of doing conversation in either French or English and there had been
20.5 percent of 648, 970 non-French and non-English speaking inhabitants present in whole
Canada.
Part B: Discussion of the chosen articles
During the discussion of the first article it has been found that due to the changing
patterns of global migration, it can be seen that Canada had shifted its profile of francophone
immigrants since last ten years. The reason behind the fact is that many French-speaking people
are coming from Europe and Africa to Canada by increasing the number of refugees in Africa.
Based on the reports of the Ontario Office of Francophone Affairs it has been found that many

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 4
francophone refugees born in the Middle East, Europe, and Africa (Keung, 2017). They are
trying to shift to Toronto, Ontario and are distinguished as visible minorities. According to
Léonie Tchatat, who is known to be the founder of La Passerelle IDE identified the fact that
francophone visible minority refugees are facing a huge amount of challenges for settling down
in Toronto, Ontario. In spite of providing various kinds of opportunities for the francophone
employees that includes exception of the labor market and online immigration portal for the
francophone, it has been found that they unable to fulfill their desired targets (Pennycook, 2017).
The discussion related to the second article evaluates the fact that due to the new cultural
shift in Toronto there arose several kinds of issues associated with invisible francophone. The
first French language school in Toronto area was established in the year 1988 and which is
presently served by one Catholic and one public. According to the research it has been found that
around 1000 francophone immigrants are setting in various sectors of Toronto (Dam, Chan &
Wayland, 2018). The elder people are more concerned about the future of their kids and for that
reason, they are planning to teach their children both the French language followed by the
English language. The parents are trying to make their child believe that the French language is
not a minority language while several kinds of successful events are associated with this
language.
During the discussion of the third article, it has been noticed that there has been diversity
in Toronto where the women and elderly persons are not capable of speaking in the French or
English language. The research has evaluated the fact that if an individual is not comfortable
with the official language then they are going to face various kinds of issues related to
unemployment (Saunders et al., 2016). Moreover, if an individual staying in Toronto does not
have the capability to speak in either French or English, then they will face difficulties while

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 5
accessing various kinds of services that are available in Toronto and they're also going to be
communicational issues. In the third chosen article it has also been discussed that mostly the
aged persons and women came from different places and settled in Toronto and for that reason,
they mostly lack the skills of official languages which are much needed for them (Thomson et
al., 2015). The elder persons use to believe that it becomes very difficult for an aged person to
learn English or French in the adult age as learning a new language after becoming older is a
much difficult task. The third chosen article had also presented the fact that the around 35.7
percent of the Torontonians with no French or English language skills had their family income
much lower than the poverty level in comparison with the other residents staying in Toronto
(Kueng, 2018).
Part C: Analysis of the issues related to the articles
In the research, it has been found that the changing demographics in Toronto is bringing
various kinds of opportunities related to trade for the Torontonians followed by bringing more
diversified culture. This changing demographics is also bringing different types of challenges for
the Torontonians related to racism and ethnocultural classifications (Orkin, 2015). It has been
analyzed that the unemployment rate of the francophone visible minorities is twice in
comparison to the average population of francophone inhabitants staying in Ontario.
During the year 1500, it has been found that about 450 different languages were being
spoken in Canada. After the colonization took place it has been noticed that the immigration took
place and many people shifted from France to different regions of Canada and one such place in
Toronto, Ontario (Gauthier et al., 2015). According to the statistics of Canada in the year 2001,
it has been found that around 59% of the overall population had the English language to be their

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 6
mother tongue while 23% of the overall population had the French language to be their mother
tongue. During the period of the 19th century, it has been noted that the Canadian legal rights
mostly concentrated on the religion of the French inhabitants rather than the French language.
According to the research, it has been analyzed that about one half of the francophone in
Ontario use to believe the fact that it is essential to obtain the French language healthcare support
that is being provided by the provincial government (Kalich, Heinemann & Ghahari, 2016). It
has been found that the Ontario government use to face various kinds of issues while providing
health care services to about 13 million people on a daily basis (Bourhis & Montreuil, 2017).
After the adoption of the French Language Services Act in the year 1986, it has been noted that
the Ontarians would expect to receive improved quality service by using the French language in
the health care centers. Moreover, it has been found that there has been an increasing demand for
the French-speaking health care professionals in Ontario for providing health care support to the
francophone immigrants (Foucher, 2017). There has been a huge amount of shortage of
healthcare professionals, nurses, and general physicians since all of them are not expert in French
language and due to which the treatment for the French-speaking patients also gets delayed.
In the research, it has been analyzed that immigration is considered to be the most
integral part of the overall history of Canada. This particular country has managed to welcome
the refugees coming from different parts of the world thereby providing them with various kinds
of opportunities followed by challenges related to economic and political imperatives (Ahmed et
al., 2016). All these refugees settling in Canada had played various kinds of crucial role related
to the economic, social, and political development thereby contributing much towards the
diversity and wealth of the country. The researchers have identified the fact that the refugees
who have the capability of speaking French or English are mostly trying to shift to Canada and

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 7
especially in Toronto, Ontario. This kind of diversity is mostly found in the francophone
communities and within the new immigrant who is trying to settle in Toronto (Schwei et al.,
2016). It is quite evident that there has been a job crisis in France and for that reason, people are
shifting to Canada in search of a job. Now, after coming to Toronto, most of the immigrants face
the major communicational issues as the employers always follow their own native language for
taking the interview and due to which they ignore the French-speaking candidates.
According to the analysis of the issues, it has been found that the Francophone people
group are not just encountering lower birth rates and higher rates of populace maturing, however,
they are likewise being influenced by the intergenerational linguistic form of shifting related to
English, debilitating their statistic imperativeness with respect to time. Thus it can be said that
immigration is much required for any communities to flourish in future. However, it has been
found that Francophone minority networks outside Quebec got little advantage from the
demographic commitment of worldwide migration. In spite of having a higher birth rate, it can
be seen that the French-speaking population in Toronto found themselves to be outnumbered in
comparison with the English-speaking population (Gordon, 2015). The reason behind the fact is
that the federal government of Canada used to prefer more English speaking immigrants as
compared to the French-speaking population. In Toronto, Ontario it can be seen that there has
been a great impact due to the language barrier which the Torontonians are currently facing in
schools, colleges, workplaces, and in various other sectors. There has been a communication gap
being found in the people of Toronto, Ontario who are French-speaking population (Okrainec et
al., 2014). Communication is supposed to be the major activity that is required in every sector
starting from schooling to job hunting and due to which the French-speaking population faces
issues when to migrate to Toronto, Ontario in search of a job.

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 8
After the analysis of the overall report, it can be concluded that the shifting of
demographics is trying to bring different types of challenges for the Torontonians related to
racism and ethnocultural classifications. Furthermore, it is also creating issues while getting
admission in schools of Toronto, Ontario or while searching for any job in that region.

CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 9
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CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 10
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CHALLENGES FACED BY FRANCOPHONE IMMIGRANTS 11
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