French immigrants struggling to find jobs, housing
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/09/2018 (2019 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — Winnipeg’s French-speaking refugees are struggling to find jobs and housing, according to a new report, despite Ottawa promising to boost francophone immigration to Manitoba.
“We’ve found some ways to better facilitate this integration,” said Faïçal Zellama, an associate professor at the Université de Saint-Boniface, who co-authored the study for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Zellama and his colleagues interviewed 41 French-speaking refugees living in Winnipeg from 2006 to 2016, and found 41 per cent were unemployed, one-third were working and seven per cent were studying.
The researchers also heard from 17 organizations that help French-speaking newcomers, and found shortfalls in housing, employment, education, health and cultural adjustment.
Zellama said refugees with advanced degrees are placed in the same math classes as others who haven’t completed high school, because social systems try to get everyone to reach the same minimal standard. “We’re mixing apples and oranges; there’s no way of meeting the particular needs.”
He said government funding is probably wasted on educational programs that don’t fit newcomers’ long workdays, instead of helping them transition to better jobs. Similarly, there seems to be little to link refugees with labour-market gaps.
For example, Zellama researched agricultural businesses needing workers in Altona, Winkler and Morden. He said refugees would only need a few weeks of training to fill those jobs, but employment centres aren’t connecting them to the work and governments aren’t funding the required training.
Meanwhile, traumatized refugees who have languished in camps often have job qualifications, but need psychological help to overcome mental-health issues and culture shock. “It’s not just giving them a health card or showing them how to access French health services in St. Boniface; they need more.”
Of the five areas Zellama studied, housing was the most dire. The city has scant affordable housing, and what’s available doesn’t always accommodate multi-children families and those who live with grandparents.
Boris Ntambwe, housing director for the immigration hub Accueil Francophone, said refugees can’t find long- or short-term homes in St. Boniface, and are pushed out to English-speaking areas such as Transcona or Windsor Park.
“It’s about keeping the bilingualism in Canada alive,” he said. “It’s more than opportunities in French, but also keeping our French heritage.”
Ntambwe hasn’t heard whether the national housing strategy, unveiled last year, will do anything to address minority communities.
Dan Vandal, MP for Saint Boniface-Saint Vital, said the Liberals are still shaping that policy, but he’s “confident” it will address minority-language housing needs.
Vandal said his government’s spending on minority-language communities has likely improved the situation since the study’s interviews concluded in 2016. He said federal funding helped Accueil boost its office staff to 29 people, from 11.
“There’s room for improvement all over, but I think we’re on the right track,” he said.
Zellama presented the report at a conference Sept. 12, and described it to the Free Press. He did not provide the document, as it’s property of IRCC, which did not respond when asked for a copy of the report.
A request for tenders shows Ottawa offered up to $30,000 for the research.
The federal government has pledged to boost immigration to minority-language communities, through both economic and refugee streams.
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 7:28 AM CDT: Adds photo