Bill 9 targets skilled worker applications
On 7 February 2019, the Coalition Avenir Québec (see my previous post introducing the CAQ) announced Bill 9, translated as An Act to increase Quebec’s socio-economic prosperity and adequately meet labor market needs through successful immigrant integration. Through the bill, the CAQ is seeking to adjust how the province deals with skilled worker applicants hoping to become permanent residents in Quebec. Among Bill 9 proposals is the amendment of the Quebec Immigration Act to “clarify” its goals; these immigrants must learn French and integrate the “democratic values and the Quebec values expressed by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms” before they can obtain permanent residence. Beyond this, the bill seeks to address needs such as labor demands in areas of the province outside of Montreal. Roughly half of Quebec’s 8 million or so inhabitants currently live in the Montreal metropolitan area.
According to Simon Jolin-Barrette (Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Diversité et de l’Inclusion), “We want to give the chance for anybody, from anywhere around the world, to come to Québec. But what we say is: Come work in Québec, but you will have to learn French and have the knowledge of Québec values to be there forever”. He goes on to say coordination between potential permanent residents and potential employers from different regions in Quebec would make the new framework “the Tinder of immigration”, a reference to the social media app.
The Snag: Quebec is still part of Canada
Despite Quebec having its own rules for choosing immigrants who will adapt well to living here, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act provides the federal government legal power to award permanent residence to immigrants. Given the overreach of some Bill 9 proposals, the reaction from Ottawa is unsurprising. Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc—who is responsible for the federal government’s relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada—bluntly stated that “first and foremost, we are not favourable to the reintroduction of the permanent residence condition”.
The Canadian government sees Bill 9 as a violation of mobility rights enshrined in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedom (a bill of rights in the Constitution of Canada), since Quebec’s proposal calls for allowing permanent residence only if these immigrants agree to certain conditions—like working in a specific region of the province. Conditionality was previously rejected at the federal level in 2012 because of endangering “spouses in difficult circumstances.” He also pointed out Quebec’s labor shortage of ~100,000 job vacancies (Quebec’s unemployment rate in 2018 reached a historic low of 6.1%).
Cancellation Controversy
Imagine, if you will, being a foreign national from Iran who is a PhD student in electrical engineering at Concordia University (one of Montreal’s two English-language universities). An email from Quebec’s Immigration Ministry appears in your inbox, and upon opening it you find that the applications you filed for becoming a permanent resident via the Regular Skilled Worker Program (in French, the acronym is PRTQ) are now on hold—and probably cancelled—owing to inadequacy, through no fault of your own. This is what recently happened to two friends/colleagues who love living in Montreal. They were told they can reapply under a new immigration application management system based on an “expression of interest” form that is filled out online.
Also known as the Arrima system, this new application process was actually launched in 2018 by Philippe Couillard’s Liberals. Bill 9 proposes to immediately and solely use the Arrima system, thereby hitting the reset button and voiding a backlog of ~18,000 pending permanent residence applications submitted prior to August 2018 under the PRTQ’s prior “first come, first served” basis. Although these individuals would be refunded a government application processing fee of $1,000 (costing the treasury roughly $19M), this would still obviously lead to aggravated disappointment among applicants who’ve waited years for an answer from Quebec.
Criticism & Counterargument
Dominique Anglade, now a member of the Quebec Liberal Party who represents the electoral district of Saint-Henri/Sainte-Anne, doesn’t see why the CAQ can’t process the PRTQ applications already submitted while incorporating the “expression of interest” application management system [Arrima]. She maintains that the cancellation of ~18,000 pending permanent residence applications would affect some 50,000 people, many of whom are already working and living in Quebec. “There are people who are in Quebec, who pay taxes, who have applied, who are now here, who speak French, who are in different regions of the province who stand to be affected by this.” Anglade was actually president of the CAQ from 2012–13, but now is disillusioned by the CAQ’s stance on immigrants and ethnic identity.
Jolin-Barrette’s office replied that the Liberals are starting “a campaign of fear” against the bill (coincidentally, this choice of words is typically used to confront anti-immigrant rhetoric) and that it’s disingenuous to imply that Bill 9 becoming law would result in people being kicked out of Quebec, since they are here under federal work permits. Furthermore, the current Immigration Minister’s office asked the Liberals to “explain why they were incapable of processing the immigration applications within a reasonable delay.” This comment is likely based on the current 36-month (or longer) processing time of PRTQ applications before an applicant hears an answer, versus—in theory, anyway—an answer 6 months after an applicant’s “expression of interest” submission. In the latter scenario, the applicant still needs to submit a PRTQ application, but their acceptability for living in Quebec will have already been determined by their positive answer to the expression of interest query.
Bill 9 Analysis: Friend or Foe to the immigrant?
Keep in mind that the proposed law pertains only to a certain pathway into permanent residency; other immigrants to Quebec face selection criteria based on their own pathway to permanent residency. It may be reasonable to say that the expression of interest system theoretically helps ensure immigrant success in Quebec, insofar as being “integrated” and gainfully employed in your field is your exact definition of success. Proponents of the bill cite the stereotypical PhD immigrant who drives a cab or works in restaurants because s/he can’t find work in their field after emigrating. We should note that plenty of citizens who have a PhD are also not working in their field. Nonetheless, the CAQ provides an acceptable argument for their use of the Arrima / expression of interest process towards permanent residency, especially given its reported “popularity”. Although 91,000 have used Arrima in the six months it has been online, none have yet received an invitation to apply for the PRTQ.
As for the 18,000 applications already submitted, at least 3,700 of these (pertaining to an estimated 5,500 people) were filed by immigrants already in Quebec. It should also be pointed out that the refund would not include other costs like legal and travel fees that applicants paid for the PRTQ. While it’s easy for many Quebecers to remain ambivalent about these cancellations, critics maintain that the bill would result in Quebec being seen as unfair and less welcoming to immigrants. According to Andrés Fontecilla, an MNA with Québec Solidaire, “This is not the image we want to send of Quebec”. On the other hand, there certainly are some Quebecers who want fewer immigrants than even the CAQ wants. As for protests, the left wing Québec solidaire party organized the first against Bill 9, on February 24.
On the personal level
As someone who is all too familiar with waiting to hear back from Canada, I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to discover I was in limbo after a PRTQ application cancellation. According to a fellow American in the news whose application is 1 of the 18,000 being cancelled by the CAQ:
I’m nervous, anxious, angry, all the human emotions all at once. It’s not the end of your life but it almost feels like it”
The situation seems ironic and absurd when you consider that she works in a region and industry that has trouble finding labor, according to farm owner Mathieu Vincent, who also states:
I really find this a shame. This is someone who wants to establish herself in Quebec, someone who speaks French, someone who wants to pay taxes here and live here.”
Room for improvement in Bill 9
Drilling down on the issue of the open applications, a compromise could help clean up the mess. As integration is a prominent buzzword in Bill 9, how about we consider that many of the applicants living here in Quebec are already integrated ? Even if they aren’t yet proficient in French, it would be a great disservice to show them the door when they are already in the building, playing by the rules of the house, and bringing so much to the table. Does it not seem a bit ludicrous to shred the thousands of applications filed by people already in Quebec? Their presence here means that these folks not only jumped through a series of hoops for Quebec and Canada—they also have been contributing to the well-being of the province, financially and in ways beyond remuneration. You can read about some of their stories here to decide if you agree with the CAQ about uprooting them.
In the end, mine is a lay opinion from a relatively new immigrant. A cynic could easily label Bill 9 as simply a nativist ploy to decrease immigration into Quebec (perhaps a symptom of the current global trend towards nationalism), but for the time being I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the CAQ. I find it difficult to disagree with the requirement to learn French and support the “democratic values and the Quebec values expressed by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms”. However, accepting a job in an area of Quebec I have little interest in settling (for me, this generally means outside of Montreal) as a requirement for permanent residence in the province is hard to swallow. Apparently the federal government also finds this too big of an ask. With compromise adjustments, Bill 9 could become more fair.