The Reason Why Quebec Have Its Own Immigration Policy
Photo from Pexels by Julius Romeus
Because of its unique selection criteria, laws, and capabilities to import skilled employees, Quebec has greater control over immigration than any other province.
With 0.58% of the vote, the Francophone province chose to remain in Canada in 1995. The causes that drove the 1995 referendum are the same ones that give Quebec autonomy over immigration today—forces deeply embedded in the province’s history and culture.
Quebec’s history and culture predate English Canada’s. In 1608, more than 250 years before the Confederation of the Canadian Dominion, the French diplomat and explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec with 28 men. He claimed the province as part of New France, which comprised much of Canada and the United States’ east coast.
He did it on the ruins of the Iroquoian settlement Stadacona, from which the word Canada derives.
De Champlain ruled New France until his death in 1635. Following the Seven Years’ War, France signed the Treaty of Paris, granting the British control of New France (including Quebec). This war laid the foundation for today’s Francophone culture.
Quebec was historically, culturally, and demographically distinct from the rest of Canada (which the British colonized to profound effect). Quebec was twice the capital of the English Province of Canada (now Quebec and Ontario) before joining the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
Quebec’s integration into Canada was never as thorough as that of English Canada, with Quebecois retaining much of their French language, customs, legal institutions, and religion.
The 1960s saw a “quiet revolution” in Quebec. Quebec attempted to establish democratic links with France, the U.K, and the USA in 1961, but the federal government intervened, claiming that there could only be “one interlocutor” with other countries.
The status of Quebec and French Canadians in the Confederation would be disputed. These cultural dynamics, combined with a shift in Canadian immigration policy from a tiered system based on country of origin to a points-based system based on applicants’ employment abilities, language proficiency, family ties, and education, resulted in Quebec establishing its own immigration minister in 1968.
Immigration, in the Constitution Act of 1867, is a unique power administered at both the federal and provincial levels. Quebec has the most sway over immigration.
Quebec formed an immigration ministry to oversee economic and cultural immigration. Thus, Quebec recruited Francophones from around the world.
Between 1971 and 1991, Quebec negotiated four significant immigration laws:
The Lang-Cloutier agreement, the first Canada-Quebec immigration statute, changed Quebec’s status in Canadian immigration by allowing it to establish representatives in Canadian embassies and provide immigration consulting abroad.
Under the 1975 Andras-Bienvenue agreement, Quebec could interview and recommend immigrants to visa authorities. The measure obliged the federal government to engage with Quebec on all new immigration applications to the province, which was a significant step forward for the province.
The Cullen-Couture agreement of 1978 extended the same rights to temporary immigration, specifying its selection criteria and providing the province with even greater authority over immigration to its boundaries. Finally, the Gagnon-Tremblay-McDougall accord of 1991, often known as the Quebec-Canada Accord, was Quebec’s most significant immigration win. This law provided the province complete authority over the selection, integration, and francization of economic immigrants inside its borders.
Quebec’s immigration policy has traditionally placed a premium on Francophone culture and the French language.
The French Language Charter, Bill 101, was passed in 1977. This historic act established French as the official language of Quebec. Most immigrant children now attend French-language schools rather than English-language institutions.
In June 2022, Bill 96 amended the Charter to emphasize French in Quebec. The Quebec government solely communicates with its inhabitants in French. Communication with customers, product labels, and contracts with Quebec’s civil administration must all be in French.
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