Quebec wants 100% francophone or 'francotropic' immigration, specifies minister

In the future, Quebec will want to select 100 per cent francophone or 'francotropic' immigrants, Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette said Wednesday.

'Francotropes' may have Arabic, Vietnamese, Laotian, Creole, Catalan, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish or Swahili as their mother tongue.

According to the accepted definition, a 'francotrope' is a person whose mother tongue is not French, but who comes from a culture or region with affinities to that language.

Fréchette thus qualified the comments of Premier François Legault, who, the day before, said he wanted to select 100 per cent francophone immigrants by 2026.

Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon suggested that there would be 'exceptions' in certain sectors of activity.

According to him, "we have to be realistic and balance this with the needs."

Fitzgibbon gave the example of steel producer Posco, which will open a plant in Bécancour and will need South Korean experts.

"Obviously, there are not many South Koreans who speak French. We have to accept that," he said in a press scrum. "We have to use our judgment."

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 30, 2022