The Quebec Government is partnering with McGill University to try to stem the "Anglophone brain drain" - a phenomenon among university graduates who opt to leave the province with a diploma in hand.
The Minister Responsible for Quebec's Anglo Secretariat, Kathleen Weil, was on-hand at McGill University Wednesday to announce the near-million dollar investment to study and attempt to correct the problem.
As it stands, two out of three graduates of Quebec universities like McGill or Concordia leave the province to find work elsewhere.
Many of them are functionally bilingual, which makes them attracted recruits outside Quebec.
The government stands to lose a large pool of students who have been subsidized to study here. In a time of high employment rates, government officials believe we should be doing more to court new talent before their exodus from the province.
The McGill-led project will research the issue, and the Townshippers' Association will look at how to provide Anglophones with the required French skills they need to work in the health and social service sectors.
Youth Employment Services, which gives support to Quebecers looking to grow businesses, will put into place programs and partnerships with businesses to help Anglophones stay and network here.
A lot of the reticence in post-grads seems to stem from a lack of confidence, a YES spokesperson said.
"It's so much about the confidence," explained Iris Unger from Youth Employment Services. "There are people who are fluently bilingual who come in and won't apply for a job because it says 'bilingual,' and they go 'oh my French isn't good enough,' or they're feeling uncomfortable speaking French."
"But then you see other people who plunk themselves into a Francophone environment and they either flourish or go into a shell," she added. "So we're looking to address that."
