Double challenge: Dropping the anchor in a bilingual province

by Béatrice Seymour, Bathurst, New Brunswick

Between 2001 and 2006, approximately 1.1 million immigrants came to Canada. The majority of them settled in the metropolitan areas of Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver. These three urban centres alone received 68.9% of the immigrants who arrived in 2006.

The four Atlantic provinces received only 1.2% of all immigrants who came to Canada between 2001 and 2006. Aware of the crucial contribution of immigrants to ensure its population growth, New Brunswick set a target of increasing its diversity by welcoming at least 5,000 immigrants each year by 2015. This is a major challenge given that in 2006 the province welcomed only 1,600 newcomers.

A mosaic province

Since New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada, newcomers who decide to settle here face a unique situation. Depending on their location, they can find themselves in a majority English- or French-speaking community, or they may live in a bilingual environment. To access the labour market, knowledge of English and French is often crucial.

Yong Sang knows a little something about this. He arrived here in Canada from South Korea in July 2007 with his wife and son, and settled in Moncton, in southern New Brunswick. Two months later, to be closer to his brother-in-law, he moved to Beresford, a small town in a majority French-speaking area in northeastern New Brunswick. A computer engineer in his native country, Yong Sang is still seeking employment in his new community. He can get by in English, but does not speak French.

“I want to stay here for the quality of life, but obtaining employment is not easy. I applied for cashier positions, and the employer always asks me if I can speak French. Also, I need to improve my English-language skills,” says Mr. Sang. To better his odds at finding a job, he is taking English courses at a college, and has made good progress after just a few months.

A welcoming community

Olivia Pacaud has been living in New Brunswick for several years, after a long period of time in Quebec. Ms. Pacaud, who is originally from France, can speak four languages, which has greatly helped her integrate into her host community. She lived mainly in French in Quebec, but she now switches between English and French. She deeply appreciates the warmth of her new community. “People should keep being nice like this, because living with people from other countries enriches their community. It broadens their world view. And these immigrants will feel drawn to them. They will like the place and will want to stay. Whether in English or French, they will feel good here,” Ms. Pacaud says enthusiastically.

Reducing isolation

Many immigrants live on the margins of society and become isolated because they are not proficient in the language of their host region. Paola Durant, originally from Chile, is trying to adapt to her new community in Bathurst, a bilingual city. “To better integrate into the community, I need to find a job. If I stay home, I will feel isolated. I will also be able to improve my English and French at work,” says Ms. Durant, who learned some basic English in Labrador City and basic French in Sherbrooke.

Learning about what awaits before leaving

According to community workers, people from other countries who want to settle in Canada should be better informed about the linguistic reality of the country. “It is important to explain to the immigrants that New Brunswick is a bilingual province and, accordingly, people have the right to speak English or French. Thus it will be difficult to find employment if you are unilingual. Often, this fact is not clearly explained, or immigrants do not understand this well if they are outside of Canada when they start the immigration process,” notes Lucile Taillieu, coordinator of the Centre d’accueil et d’intégration des immigrants du Moncton métropolitain.