French language training at work does little to help new arrivals integrate, commissioner says

Montreal Gazette

21-05-2025

Quebec Politics
By
QUEBEC — The province's system for teaching new arrivals French in their workplace does not offer most participants a realistic chance of success and a smooth integration into Quebec society, Quebec's French language commissioner said Wednesday.
In his 2024-2025 annual report tabled in the National Assembly, Benoît Dubreuil says while the system looks promising on paper and is widely supported by the business and political class, the reality on the ground is otherwise for most participants.
Dubreuil identifies a series of flaws hampering better results in the system. Many participants, for example, arrive with no prior knowledge of French, which makes progress tough.
Participants often don't have the time to focus on the courses because they are working full-time. The dropout rate is about 23 per cent.
Others, anxious to improve their skills, opt to take French courses outside the workplace on their own time.
The workplace itself is not conducive to learning French, especially if the English language is present, he says.
'A policy that consists of admitting to the workplace a large number of workers who don't understand French, and then offering them a low-intensity program to learn it, is not compatible with the objectives of the Charter of the French Language,' Dubreuil said in his report.
'Most participants (in workplace French courses) cannot aspire to socialize easily in French with their colleagues for many years. As a result, many non-francophone workers remain isolated in their workplace and potentially vulnerable.'
Dubreuil argues the problem is not even a money issue. The fact many workers are not available to take the courses is.
Dubreuil makes a series of recommendations to make the system work. He suggests Francization Québec, the agency responsible for teaching French to Quebecers and immigrants, deploy standardized courses with measurable objectives.
He also says employers should be obliged to give workers more time to participate in the courses.
'The investment in workplace French will not produce durable results until the training is included in a global French integration vision of francization in the workplace,' Dubreuil said.
From May 2023 to January 2025, 539 Quebec companies participated in the French workplace program. Seventy five per cent of participants were temporary immigrants.
It's the second time Dubreuil has looked into the operations of Francization Québec, the agency created along with the adoption of Quebec's language reform law, Bill 96.
Last year he highlighted long waits for services, blaming bureaucratic bottlenecks.