Good afternoon.

Thank you very much for your invitation. It is truly an honour to be here and to speak with the members of this committee.

I am aware of the importance the Canadian government attaches to francophone immigration and to all investments that have been made in the past 20 years, particularly in the service development area.

I am going to address three main points, which correspond to the three parts of the motion.

The first point concerns support services for persons wishing to file an immigration application. First of all, I congratulate you for opening an immigration office in Cameroon. In one of my speeches last year, I said we needed to open more offices, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nevertheless, candidates wishing to file immigration applications can only do so online. However, the interface may cause problems for filers. The system has become very complicated. Information is available only online and procedures are often long, difficult and confusing. The process may also be a barrier for potential filers. There's also the fact that the information, classes and scoring in express entry are subject to change. It's all confusing.

Incidentally, I conducted an interview for a project earlier this summer in which an agent told me that it was hard to keep up to date and provide information even for an expert like her. Perhaps the department should consider organizing webinars to show and explain to applicants how to prepare and submit their applications, and even make people available to them who can answer questions and meet specific needs. It should also consider employing agents who are trained by the government to prevent scams. I often receive emails from people in Africa who want to come here and who are desperate. They've been scammed several times and have paid a lot of money to unofficial actors. There are problems with the present system and improvements should be made to it.

We should also provide support to those people who are already in Canada on temporary study or work permits. I'm thinking, in particular, of foreign students, who are prime candidates. They encounter many issues, notably the fact that they have to file two applications: one for a post-graduation permit and a second for a resident permit. This process should be facilitated and expedited. Applicants also face unreasonable delays. For example, they must have one year of professional experience in their field when they are students. All of this causes problems. I genuinely think that students who have a Canadian degree are the best suited candidates. Having been a bilingual international student, I can assure you that facilitates matters.

In addition to all that, the government should simply adopt a more radical initiative and completely change the francophone immigration policy system by separating it from general immigration to Canada, which is intended for anglophones and English speakers. That would help vastly accelerate and facilitate everything for everyone. There are other options, such as facilitating and accelerating family reunification, where numbers are lagging, simplifying procedures for economic immigration candidates and having only one class, for example. I've already discussed the student issue.

The second point concerns resources and support in Canada. Pre-departure services are little known and underused. I think we really have to provide better information for people waiting to come to Canada. In the course of my research, many participants told me that they would have benefited considerably from access to those services. However, they were unaware they even existed. The government has invested in this area, and I think it's an outstanding service, but it's underused. I would also propose that support services be expanded for international students, and even to temporary work permit holders, to facilitate and accelerate their transition and integration.

I had intended to discuss some of the recommendations regarding employment, but I don't have much time left.

The final point I want to make is about increasing the rate of applicant approvals. Here I would go back to my suggestion that we create a separate francophone immigration system—