Formative Evaluation of Initiatives to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities

Citizenship and Immigration Canada
October 27, 2006

Table of Content

• Executive Summary
• Management response
• 1.0 Introduction
  • 1.1 Evaluation context
  • 1.2 Evaluation objectives
  • 1.3 Report structure
• 2.0 Methodology
• 3.0 Description of initiatives
  • 3.1 Design and implementation context
  • 3.2 Logic of the initiatives
  • 3.3 Management structure of CIC initiatives
  • 3.4 Resources
• 4.0 Evaluation findings
  • 4.1 Relevance of initiatives
  • 4.2 Design and implementation challenges
  • 4.3 Progress
  • 4.4 Data collection
• 5.0 Conclusions and Next Steps
  • 5.1 Relevance
  • 5.2 Design and implementation
  • 5.3 Progress
  • 5.4 Next steps
• Annex A - Formative Evaluation Framework
• Annex B - Detailed Methodology
• Annex C - Strategic Framework Objectives

Executive Summary

Launched in March 2003, the Action Plan for Official Languages, subtitled The Next Act: New Momentum for Canada’s Linguistic Duality (the Action Plan), reaffirms the commitment of the Government of Canada to linguistic duality and the Official Languages Act, and identifies three priority areas for action. Immigration is one of the priority axes identified. The Action Plan allocated $9M over five years to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to promote immigration to Francophone communities outside Quebec. CIC has accordingly implemented initiatives (the CIC initiatives) to promote immigration to Francophone minority communities.

This formative evaluation has two goals: to assess the progress accomplished in the implementation of the CIC initiatives, and to examine the process in place for gathering data, in order to prepare for the summative evaluation scheduled for 2008.

Methodology

The evaluation assesses the relevance of the CIC initiatives, their planning and implementation, and the progress accomplished. The methodology chosen consists of four components: a review of documentation; an analysis of CIC’s administrative databases; consultation with Statistics Canada; and 23 interviews with 26 key participants.

Planning and implementation context

The Dialogue tour, a series of consultations with Francophone and Acadian communities in Canada, and two studies published by the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, have shown that: 1) Francophone minority communities (FMCs) have not benefited as much from immigration as official language minority communities (OLMCs) have; 2) immigration can be a factor in the development and growth of FMCs.

To give effect to the recommendations from the Dialogue tour, CIC set up a steering committee, which produced a strategic framework that sets out the strategy that CIC helps to implement in order to foster immigration to FMCs. At the same time, in accordance with the Action Plan, the Government of Canada allocated $9M to CIC to carry out initiatives intended to encourage immigrants to settle in Francophone communities outside Quebec.

These initiatives, and the activities of the Steering Committee, are independently planned. The Committee, which has been in existence since before the $9M was allocated to CIC, took no part in designing the initiatives.

Description of the initiatives

The original purpose of the initiatives was to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants into the FMCs. The initiatives thus focused on five specific fields of activity: 1) promotion overseas; 2) the Provincial Nominees Program; 3) awareness within Francophone communities; 4) the execution of pilot projects to increase the absorption capacity of communities; and 5) the introduction of coordination and planning mechanisms.

In order to permit achievement of the overall objective, however, the CIC initiatives first had to enable CIC to consolidate its internal capacity to coordinate departmental activities to promote immigration within the FMCs.

Evaluation findings

1) Relevance

This evaluation indicates that the activities undertaken with the funding allocated by the Action Plan were broadly responsive to the need felt by CIC and the communities to strengthen their ability to act in the area of Francophone immigration.

There is in fact a broad consensus among those concerned that the FMCs need to benefit from the advantages of immigration in order to ensure their own growth. The desired result of attracting, welcoming and integrating Francophone newcomers thus lies at the root of the CIC initiatives. Those involved also indicated that CIC and the communities first had to strengthen their ability to address the issue of Francophone immigration. This expected outcome, to which a significant proportion of the resources were devoted, was not initially an expected outcome of the initiative. That said, it is obvious that reinforcement of the capacity of the Department and of the communities will help in the long term to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants into these communities.

2) Planning and implementation

This evaluation did note a few challenges associated with the planning and implementation of the CIC initiatives. These relate mainly to funding, the management of initiatives, and the monitoring of the activities funded.

1. The initiatives are structured to give priority to reinforcing the capacity of the Department and of the communities. The fact that most of the funding goes to operating costs limits the capacity of the initiatives to achieve the objective of attracting, welcoming and integrating immigrants.
2. Generally, participants plan and develop their activities in accordance with the Strategic Framework, rather than with the CIC initiatives. The Steering Committee did not take part in the planning of the initiatives, and key partners were not adequately informed about them. Consequently, participants lack a clear idea of the activities to be undertaken in order to implement each initiative.
3. As the contribution funds are administered by the Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP) or the Resettlement Assistance Program (RAP), they are used to complement other funds. Since the conditions of existing programs are applied, there is no formal mechanism to ensure that funds from the initiatives are used to support activities that specifically target Francophone immigration. Data gathered for the purposes of this evaluation are not related specifically to the implementation of the initiatives, but do make it possible to track Francophone immigration to Canada, and the availability of intake services for immigrants, in a general way.

3) Progress

The initiatives have mainly enabled consolidation of the internal capacity of the Department and, to some extent, implementation of activities that target Francophone communities directly.

This evaluation indicates that the initiatives are making it possible to achieve the expected results in the short term. More specifically, the activities are helping to:

1. enhance the internal capacity of the Department—the activities undertaken have made it possible to assign positions within the Department to the planning and management of activities designed to attract, welcome and integrate Francophone immigrants into the FMCs;
2. coordinate activities among the main partners—the activities undertaken have made it possible to establish a dialogue among the various partners, and to create coordination mechanisms to address the issue of Francophone immigration to minority communities;
3. raise awareness among Francophone immigrants of the possibility of immigrating to the FMCs—the activities undertaken have made it possible to promote Francophone communities abroad;
4. enhance receptiveness to immigration within the FMCs—the activities undertaken have made it possible, in particular, to hold meetings with community leaders, to publish articles about Francophone immigration, and to develop virtual promotional materials;
5. recognize the advantages of immigration—the activities undertaken have made it possible to alert members of Francophone communities to the advantages of immigration;
6. provide access to intake services in French—the activities undertaken have made it possible to put in place intake services in French within the FMCs.

Next steps

This formative evaluation indicates that CIC would be well advised to review its strategy for evaluating initiatives designed to promote immigration to the FMCs. These findings confirm that the activities undertaken with the $9M funding are broadly related to the wider undertaking constituted by the Strategic Framework. As indicated, the overall objective cannot be achieved in isolation. The conduct of the activities listed in the Strategic Framework is a necessary step to that end.

Rather than proceed in due course with a summative evaluation of the initiatives, the Department would be well advised to conduct a summative evaluation of the Strategic Framework, paying special attention to their contribution to the achievement of the objectives set out in the Framework. This approach would have the advantage of avoiding a largely artificial distinction between the $9M in funding and the activities of the Strategic Framework. The proposed approach would make it possible to review and assess the progress accomplished toward achieving the basic objectives of the Action Plan: to promote the attraction, welcoming and integration of Francophone newcomers into the FMCs.

Moreover, the data available on Francophone immigration, while not perfect, are much more readily applicable to evaluation of the Strategic Framework itself than to activities undertaken using the $9M in funding.

In anticipation of a future evaluation of the Strategic Framework, it would be helpful first to examine to what extent it can be evaluated. This evaluability study would make it possible to develop methods that meet the Department’s requirements, and those of the Steering Committee, and could be applied with the resources available.

The Department could evaluate the Strategic Framework according to the timetable initially worked out for the summative evaluation of the initiatives. By 2008, in fact, implementation of the Strategic Framework should be sufficiently advanced for such a step to be justified.

Management response

Introduction

Overall, the department agrees with the findings of the formative evaluation. The report stresses that much positive progress was made over the last few years. The Commissioner of Official Languages has referred to the work of the CIC – Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee as a model of community involvement. While no recommendations were made in the report, the Department has agreed to address the key observations as a mean to proactively address some of the issues raised in the evaluation.

Key observations

The report acknowledges the complex chronology of events which started with the launch of the federal Action Plan for Official Languages (the Action Plan) in March 2003. This Action Plan reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of Canada to linguistic duality and the Official Languages Act, and identified three priority areas for action. Immigration is one of the priorities identified. The Action Plan allocated $9M over five years to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to promote immigration to Francophone communities outside Quebec.

CIC’s initiatives are to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants into the Francophone minority communities (FMCs). They focused on five specific fields of activity: 1) promotion overseas; 2) the Provincial Nominees Program; 3) awareness within Francophone communities; 4) the delivery of pilot projects to increase the absorption capacity of communities; and 5) the introduction of coordination and planning mechanisms.

Following the launch of the Action Plan for Official Languages, the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities was released in November 2003. The Framework was developed through the CIC – Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee (Steering Committee) and identified five broad objectives to be achieved over a 10 to 15 year period. In September 2006, the Steering Committee released the Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities. This plan outlines key priorities for 2006 to 2011 to reach the objectives as set-out in the Strategic Framework.

This evaluation indicates that CIC has made progress towards the expected results. More specifically, the activities are helping to:

1. enhance the internal capacity of the Department;
2. coordinate activities among the main partners;
3. raise awareness among Francophone immigrants of the possibility of integrating into the FMCs;
4. enhance receptiveness to immigration within the FMCs;
5. recognize the advantages of immigration; and
6. provide access to settlement services in French.

The key challenges identified in the formative evaluation can be summarized as follows:

1. Alignment between the Strategic Framework and the Action Plan – In conducting the evaluation, participants planned and developed their activities in accordance with the Strategic Framework, rather than with the initiatives as identified in the Action Plan. As a result, this created some confusion among key stakeholders. The report therefore suggested that CIC review its evaluation framework to take into consideration the Strategic Framework in the upcoming summative evaluation scheduled in 2008.
2. Funding allocations to support community activities targeting Francophone immigration – CIC’s first order of business was to reinforce the capacity of the Department to have a structure in place to support community activities targeting Francophone immigration. The report pointed out that, while enhancing the internal capacity of the Department was important, CIC should ensure that the funding allocations be principally directed to supporting community activities.
3. Tracking funds to support activities targeting Francophone immigration – The report emphasized the requirement to track both operational and contribution funding associated with the various initiatives.
4. Data collection – The report stressed that CIC needs to better define a data collection strategy if it wishes to monitor progress in reaching its objectives of attracting and integrating immigrants in Francophone minority communities.

Management Response

CIC is proud of the progress accomplished to date with the assistance of our partners to foster francophone immigration in minority communities. To address the key challenges raised by the report, the department has already identified and initiated the course of action presented in the following table (Table A: Management Response).

1.0 Introduction

Launched in March 2003, the Action Plan for Official Languages entitled The Next Act: New Momentum for Canada’s Linguistic Duality (the Action Plan), reiterated the Government of Canada’s commitment to linguistic duality and the Official Languages Act (OLA). Community development and immigration are two of the three priority thrusts defined therein. The Action Plan gave Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) financial support of $9 million spread over five years, plus $2 million in subsequent years, to promote immigration to Francophone communities outside Quebec and thus foster the vitality of these communities. To this end, the CIC brought in initiatives to promote immigration to Francophone minority communities (hereinafter, “the CIC initiatives”). In compliance with Treasury Board requirements, CIC has undertaken a formative evaluation of these initiatives.

1.1 Evaluation context

Evaluation of the CIC initiatives reflects the broader framework of the Official Languages Program.[note 1] In 2005, the Government of Canada developed a horizontal Results-based Management and Accountability Framework (H-RMAF) for the Official Languages Program. Among other things, the H-RMAF includes a performance measurement, evaluation and reporting strategy for the Official Languages Program. This strategy includes:

• mid-term (2005) and final (2008) reports on the implementation of the Action Plan and the Official Languages Program generally;
  
• the annual reports of Canadian Heritage, the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, which will consolidate information from various federal agencies on the Official Languages Program and Action Plan;
• a formative evaluation of the co-ordination function of the Official Languages Secretariat in the Department of Canadian Heritage;[note 2]
• formative and summative evaluations of specific aspects and the general implementation of the Action Plan.

This formative evaluation is part of that strategy.

1.2 Evaluation objectives

The formative evaluation has two objectives:

• to report on progress with implementing the initiatives;
• to review the existing data collection process in preparation for the summative evaluation planned for 2008.

The evaluation is more specifically focused on issues of relevance, design and implementation as well as progress. Annex A contains the evaluation framework that guided this process.

1.3 Report structure

This report is made up of five main sections including this introduction. Section 2.0 outlines the methodology used for this formative evaluation, and section 3.0 offers a detailed description of the CIC initiatives. Section 4.0 presents the evaluation findings and section 5.0 the conclusions and next steps.

2.0 Methodology

The methodology used for this evaluation included a document review, an analysis of CIC’s administrative databases, a consultation with Statistics Canada, and 23 interviews with 26 key stakeholders. Annex B outlines the methodology in detail.

• Document review – The documents consulted for the evaluation include CIC initiative planning papers, documents connected with the work of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada–Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee and documentation on activities.
• Analysis of administrative databases – The data from various CIC administrative databases were covered by the analysis.
• Consultation with Statistics Canada – A resource person at Statistics Canada was interviewed to discuss the type of data on Francophone immigration the Agency is collecting, their availability and the geographical unit levels for which the data are collected.
• Interviews with key stakeholders – 23 interviews were conducted with 26 key stakeholders. The groups represented were: CIC headquarters and regional representatives, provincial and territorial representatives, community partners and service providers.

3.0 Description of initiatives

This section of the report gives a detailed description of the CIC initiatives. It outlines the context in which they were implemented, their logic model, management structure and allocated financial resources.[note 3]

3.1 Design and implementation context

The CIC initiatives were designed and given effect in a context where Francophone immigration is a major political, social and economic issue for the government stakeholders and communities concerned. This subsection defines the context surrounding the design and implementation of the CIC initiatives and the sequence of events and activities in particular. The diagram below tracks this chronology of the CIC initiatives as described in this subsection.

The Dialogue tour and creation of the Steering Committee

Between 1999 and 2001, the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadiennes (FCFA) du Canada, in conjunction with the Department of Canadian Heritage, consulted Francophone and Acadian communities across the country concerning their development. This tour, called the Dialogue tour, officially recognized the role immigration can play in the vital development of Francophone minority communities (FMCs). A number of the recommendations arising from the tour dealt specifically with immigrant reception and integration into Francophone communities.

In March 2002, to follow up on the tour and the recommendations arising from it, CIC formed the Steering Committee.[note 4]

Immigration studies and FMCs

In 2002, the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages published two studies on immigration and FMCs: Immigration and the Vitality of Canada ’s Official Language Communities: Policy, Demography and Identity and Official Languages and Immigration: Obstacles and Opportunities for Immigrants and Communities. These studies showed that the FMCs have not benefited from immigration to the same extent as official language majority communities. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages stressed the need to attract more Francophone immigrants to FMCs and ensure that systems are in place to receive them and support their integration.

The Action Plan for Official Languages and the CIC initiatives

In 2001, the Government of Canada undertook to explore new measures to ensure the continuous development of the official language minority communities and to ensure that the Public Service of Canada reflects the country’s bilingual character. To this end, the Honourable Stéphane Dion, President of the Privy Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, was asked to develop an action plan for official languages. This five-year plan was unveiled in March 2003.

The Action Plan gave CIC $9 million over five years and $2 million in subsequent years to implement initiatives “to promote immigration to Francophone communities outside Quebec.”[note 5] This represented 1.2% of the total budget of the Action Plan for Official Languages.

CIC initiatives to promote immigration to FMCs

The Action Plan was thus the event that triggered the CIC initiatives. However, the Department was already heavily committed and involved in promoting immigration to FMCs owing to its presence on the Steering Committee. In fact the Steering Committee had already been in existence for a year and was working to develop a strategic framework it could use to fulfil its mandate.

The CIC initiatives arising from the Action Plan actually support the Steering Committee in its work and the objectives identified by the Department. More specifically, the CIC initiatives address five specific sectors, namely:

The Steering Committee ’s strategic framework

In November 2003, the Steering Committee presented its Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities (hereinafter, “the Strategic Framework”). This document is an action strategy for immigration to FMCs with CIC participation and is intended as the “reference framework for all national, provincial and territorial stakeholders from the government and community sectors who will be involved in developing and implementing the action plans”.[note 6]

Although linked by the expected common result of better social, cultural and economic integration for Francophone immigrants to FMCs, the strategies of the Strategic Framework differ from the CIC initiatives arising from the Action Plan. Annex C outlines the Strategic Framework objectives.

3.2 Logic of the initiatives

This subsection outlines the logic of the initiatives according to the model in Figure 1. Designed for evaluation purposes, the logic model is intended to represent activities as they have been implemented.

Figure 1 – Logical Model of the Initiatives to Foster Immigration to FMCs

Activities

• Funding FTEs at CIC
  Outputs
  • CIC FTEs funded
    Expected short-term results
    • Department’s internal capacity increased
• Establishing co-ordination and planning mechanisms
  Outputs
  • Steering Committee meetings, regional networks established
    Expected short-term results
    • Co-ordination among the main partners
• Implementing departmental operations; Funding community initiatives
  Outputs
  • Promotional activities funded
    Expected short-term results
    • Potential Francophone Immigrants made aware of opportunities for immigrating to FMCs
  • Awareness activities funded
    Expected short-term results
    • FMCs receptive to immigration
    • Recognition of the advances of immigration
  • Reception services funded
    Expected short -term results
    • Access to reception services in French

Expected medium-term results

• Increased numbers of immigration applications from target countries
• Increased numbers of Francophone immigrants settling in FMCs
• Improved reception capacity in FMCs

Expected long-term results

• Improved social, cultural and economic integration of Francophone immigrants to FMCs

It is worth noting that the activities undertaken with the $9 million went far beyond the initiatives initially designed by CIC (see Table 1). In particular, a major share of the resources was allocated to improve the Department’s internal capacity. In fact, the primary requirement for achieving the initial objective of attracting, welcoming and integrating Francophone immigrants to FMCs was that all CIC initiatives highlight the capacity of the Department and the communities to conduct activities for this purpose.

3.2.1 Aim and objectives of the initiatives

The general aim of the initiatives is to help CIC plan and implement initiatives and activities that will attract, welcome and integrate immigrants to FMCs.

The objectives of these initiatives appear in two stages. The first involves consolidating internal CIC capacity so the Department can effectively co-ordinate its activities to foster immigration to FMCs. The second involves implementing specific activities to attract, welcome and integrate immigrants to Francophone minority communities. The first stage is vital to the success of the second.

3.2.2 Activities and outputs

The CIC initiatives to foster immigration to FMCs support four main activities to:

• Establish co-ordination and planning mechanisms. CIC has signed contribution agreements with the FCFA du Canada to ensure its support for the co-ordination of Steering Committee activities. CIC has also co-ordinated the creation of support committees at the national level to back the work of the Steering Committee and has set up regional networks that will ensure the implementation of initiatives involving regional Francophone minority immigration.
• Implement departmental operations. CIC has implemented various departmental operations to publicize Francophone minority communities abroad and promote the Provincial Nominee Program, build awareness of Francophone immigration in FMCs, and support the introduction of reception services for Francophone immigrants and refugees in FMCs. These activities include designing material to help service suppliers recruit Francophones, developing promotional and communication tools and arranging familiarization trips to Francophone minority communities and promotional tours abroad.
• Fund community initiatives. CIC funds community initiatives to promote FMCs abroad, sensitize FMCs to immigration and establish reception services for Francophone immigrants/refugees in these communities. CIC signs contribution agreements with various community agencies to implement such activities as developing sponsorship programs, supporting the introduction of reception centres and related services, conducting research projects and setting up mentoring programs.
• Fund full-time equivalents (FTEs) at CIC. The initiatives are funding 6.9 FTEs a year at CIC over a five-year period.

3.2.3 Expected results

It is anticipated that the activities outlined in subsection 3.2.2 will help to achieve six short-term expected results:

• Co-ordination among the major partners working to foster immigration to Francophone minority communities – The management and co-ordination of the Steering Committee’s activities and the establishment of regional networks are expected to ensure that the major partners co-ordinate their activities and work together to implement the various activities.
• Potential French‑speaking immigrants are informed of opportunities to immigrate to FMCs – Funding promotional activities abroad is expected to make Francophones considering immigration to Canada aware of the existence of Francophone communities outside Quebec.
• More receptiveness to immigration in FMCs and recognition of the advantages of immigration – The awareness activities funded by CIC are expected to publicize the social and economic benefits of immigration to FMC members, who will thus be more receptive to immigration and acknowledge its benefits.
• Access to reception services in French for Francophone immigrants to FMCs – Funding activities to support the introduction of reception services is expected to afford Francophone immigrants to FMCs greater access to reception and settlement services in French.
• Improving the Department’s internal capacity – Funding FTEs at CIC headquarters and in the regions is expected to help the initiatives improve the Department’s internal capacity so it can co-ordinate its activities and handle contribution requests along with the activities associated with contribution agreements.

It is also anticipated that activities under the initiatives will help to achieve some medium-term expected results:

• Increased numbers of immigration applications from targeted countries – The activities implemented in the CIC initiatives will help to elicit a larger number of immigration applications from countries targeted by foreign promotional activities.
• Increased numbers of Francophone immigrants settling in FMCs – The implementation of activities in the initiatives will help to increase the number of Francophone immigrants settling in FMCs.
• Improved reception capacity in FMCs – The CIC initiatives are also expected to ensure that FMCs have the necessary resources to receive Francophone immigrants.

Finally, it is anticipated that the CIC initiatives will help to achieve one long-term expected result:

• Improved social, cultural and economic integration of Francophone immigrants to Francophone minority communities – Ultimately, the activities supported by the CIC initiatives are expected to ensure a better overall integration of Francophone immigrants to FMCs. The improved social, cultural and economic integration of Francophone immigrants will be instrumental in achieving the general objective of getting FMCs to share the demographic and economic spin-offs of immigration to Canada.

3.3 Management structure of CIC initiatives

CIC co-ordinates its overall strategy to foster immigration to FMCs, including the five initiatives arising from the Action Plan. Management of the five initiatives has thus been amalgamated with the management of the Strategic Framework developed by the Steering Committee.

3.4 Resources

The Action Plan for Official Languages gave CIC $9 million over five years to implement the initiatives. Table 2 below shows how these funds are allocated among the five initiatives.

4.0 Evaluation findings

This section outlines findings from the mass of data collected. These findings have to do with the relevance of the initiatives, design and implementation challenges characterizing all the initiatives and, finally, progress made and challenges met in each initiative’s implementation.

4.1 Relevance of initiatives

The CIC initiatives are relevant insofar as they satisfy two established needs: to improve capacity in CIC and the communities and attract, welcome and integrate Francophone immigrants to minority communities.

As well, according to a number of stakeholders interviewed at CIC and the communities, the initiatives implemented by CIC with funds from the Action Plan have laid the foundations of a general Francophone minority immigration strategy as advocated by the Action Plan.

4.2 Design and implementation challenges

This evaluation has revealed three major challenges associated with the CIC initiatives’ design and implementation. This subsection  outlines the design and implementation challenges typifying all the initiatives, while subsection 4.3 describes progress made and challenges specific to each of them.

An initial challenge involves funding. The amounts in the initiatives limit the achievement of the core objective since most of the funds, 73%, are allocated as operating funds (including funds for FTEs) and not contribution funds.[note 7] However, operating funds have still been used for activities directly linked to the initiatives and helped to achieve the core objective. According to some stakeholders, underfunding the initiatives has meant challenges insofar as not all community expectations could be met. The community representatives would have preferred to see the funds handed directly to the communities, even though capacity building appeared as the primary need.

Generally speaking, the stakeholders interviewed said that the funding provided for initiatives to foster immigration to FMCs was inadequate in view of the pressing need to improve capacity in the Department and the communities. Preparing to implement specific activities was a necessary stage and called for the dedication of major resources. Some stakeholders in CIC and the communities felt that the initiatives funds could only lay the foundations for the potential implementation of activities and initiatives aimed directly at increasing Francophone minority immigrant numbers. Nonetheless, while acknowledging the importance of capacity building, some community and government stakeholders took the view that a distribution of funds with greater emphasis on contribution funds would have been more appropriate, especially for the last two or three years of initiatives implementation.

A second challenge is associated with the fact that the management of CIC initiatives seems to be virtually invisible and generally unknown by the stakeholders concerned, who instead recognize the management of the Strategic Framework and the Department’s general approach to Francophone minority immigration. The initiatives have to a large extent been managed independently of the Strategic Framework. Most stakeholders interviewed thought they could have benefited from more communication on the initiatives between CIC and the other partners. The evaluation indicates that the key partners received little guidance in terms of implementing initiatives and there was little co-ordination of their activities. A number of stakeholders acknowledged that the large number of partners complicates information management, though they stress the importance of good communications to avoid duplication and conflicts in activities.

The networks created in the Steering Committee, support committees and regional committees are perceived as effective and important co-ordination and communications systems, though apparently communications among the various networks need to be improved.

A third challenge is associated with the fact that the CIC initiatives are structured in such a way as to prevent control of the type of activity being funded. Activities under contribution agreements have to follow the procedures of the Immigrant Settlement and Adaptation Program (ISAP), which include no specific condition on the use of funds for Francophone immigration. Although there are many activities affecting FMCs in these initiatives, there is still no mechanism in place to ensure that Action Plan funds will be used for their prescribed purposes. At present, then, it is hard to isolate activities funded by the Action Plan or ascribe results obtained directly to these activities.

4.3 Progress

4.3.1 Initiative 1: Promotional activities abroad

Progress

CIC has focussed its foreign promotion on three Francophone geographic regions: Western Europe, the Maghreb, and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. CIC has organized promotional tours, paid for newspaper and television ads and held student fairs in these three regions plus Tunis. Monthly briefing sessions are given in Paris as part of the service to the public. Moreover, CIC has developed promotional tools that include information cards for distribution with Web links to various Canadian governments (federal and provincial), concerned embassies and a range of Francophone community agencies. The funds allocated for this initiative have also been used to fund additional immigration officer positions to increase capacity to process a larger number of Francophone immigration applications abroad.

In light of these findings, the promotional activities abroad are contributing to one of the expected short-term outcomes, that of making potential Francophone immigrants aware of the opportunities of immigrating to FMCs.

Challenges specific to this initiative

According to some government and community stakeholders, the context in which the foreign promotions occur has certain challenges.

First, it is difficult to actively promote Canada abroad when an immigrant’s application can routinely take several years to process.

Secondly, some provinces/territories are unable to offer reception services in French or offer immigrants a Francophone living environment. The stakeholders interviewed felt that it might be misleading to promote the Francophone communities in these provinces/territories.

Thirdly, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has a limited capacity to encourage immigrants to settle in one of these communities. In general, CIC cannot promote one region or community more than another; the Department can only ensure that it publicizes our Francophone minority communities abroad.

Fourthly, the lack of involvement by the private sector and, in some cases, provinces/territories, means that the immigrants’ economic integration in FMCs is hard to guarantee. This raises real challenges, given that one of the major concerns of future immigrants is their economic integration in the host community.

4.3.2 Initiative 2: Provincial Nominee Program

Progress

According to some stakeholders in CIC, the funds allocated for this initiative have paid for one full-time officer position in the Department and supported the provinces with respect to the Strategic Framework’s primary objective of increasing the number of French-speaking immigrants. More specifically, certain government and community stakeholders indicated that some of the funds were used for activities to make provinces aware of the benefits of Francophone immigration and their role in this regard. Although CIC seems to have been able to pique provinces’ interest in Francophone immigration, a number of stakeholders interviewed found the language clauses of agreements under the Provincial Nominee Program less than effective. Most provinces are not using this program to achieve the objectives of the CIC initiatives.

Finally, the funds allocated for this initiative have enabled CIC to organize foreign tours promoting the Provincial Nominee Program, fund provincial participation in these tours and develop tools to promote this program.

These findings indicate that the activities associated with this initiative also help to achieve the expected short-term result of making potential Francophone immigrants aware of the opportunities to immigrate to FMCs.

The activities associated with this initiative also help to achieve the expected short-term result of greater receptiveness (in this case, by provinces) to immigration to FMCs.

Challenges specific to this initiative

Some stakeholders indicated that the main challenge to the implementation of activities around the Provincial Nominee Program has to do with provincial commitment, which varies from province to province and, from time to time, within provinces.

4.3.3 Initiatives 3 and 4: Awareness building in communities and pilot projects to improve reception capacity

Progress

With regard to awareness building in Francophone communities, activities have included meeting with community leaders, publishing features on Francophone immigration and developing virtual promotional tools (some of these activities used other funding sources).

With regard to improving the communities’ reception capacity, the funds for these initiatives have helped to set up reception centres in four communities, launch various direct services for Francophone minority immigrants, establish community stakeholder groups to discuss Francophone immigration issues and fund studies on the communities’ reception capacity.

CIC has also implemented activities to build awareness and improve reception capacity in communities and fund agencies to implement activities specific to Francophone refugees. CIC has developed promotional materials to help service suppliers recruit Francophone volunteers. It has funded studies of refugee integration and the capacity of various Francophone campuses to sponsor refugees. It has funded local committees to improve the capacity of certain universities to sponsor foreign students and organized familiarization tours of various FMCs. As well, CIC offers contribution funds to agencies submitting applications to implement projects and services for the reception and integration of Francophone minority refugees.

According to the stakeholders interviewed, activities under these initiatives have helped to achieve the expected short-term result of sensitizing provincial/territorial and community stakeholders to the benefits of Francophone immigration. Moreover, the activities implemented through these initiatives contribute to the expected medium-term result of increasing the communities’ reception capacity for Francophone newcomers by building awareness and establishing direct services.

Challenges specific to these initiatives

Challenges arose while implementing these initiatives owing to the complexity of the immigration file. On the one hand, members of a community will not all agree on the importance and role of Francophone minority immigration. In fact, major splits in some communities make activities and initiatives to foster Francophone immigration a sensitive issue.

On the other hand, although CIC has the authority to administer reception and settlement services in most provinces and territories, some provinces have made agreements with the federal government under which the Department of Citizenship and Immigration funds them to design and administer these services. In these provinces, CIC does not have the flexibility to increase regular funding to implement settlement services for Francophone immigrants since the province has the sole authority to design and administer these services. Accordingly, the provinces concerned have to be made aware of the benefits of Francophone immigration to target their activities.

4.3.4 Initiative 5: Co-operation and planning mechanisms

Progress

In general, the funding for this initiative has enabled CIC to plan its overall approach to Francophone immigration.

On the one hand, CIC has been able to bring the key national and regional stakeholders together. CIC has supported the creation of regional networks and the meetings of the Steering Committee and regional committees, thus establishing a dialogue between community and government stakeholders. In fact, the Department has signed contribution agreements with the FCFA du Canada to support its management of the Steering Committee.

On the other hand, this initiative has made it possible to develop the Strategic Framework and prepare for its implementation as well as support the regional committees in developing their action plans.

Furthermore, the initiative enables CIC to identify potential partners that will be able to help implement the Department’s overall strategy for Francophone minority immigration.

As well, in September 2006 CIC launched its Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities. This plan’s objective is to increase the number of Francophone immigrants settling in FMCs and help them integrate with their new environment.

According to the stakeholders consulted, activities under this initiative have won various partners over to the Steering Committee’s strategy of fostering immigration to FMCs. The initiative has been of direct assistance in establishing co-operation and dialogue between the key partners and enabled the Department to focus its potential actions.

4.4. Data collection

Formal data collection systems linked to the objective of attracting, welcoming and integrating immigrants to FMCs have not been set up. Systems for measuring the achievement of this objective will be more relevant and necessary when implementing the Strategic Framework.

At present, the only available data are CIC administrative data with no direct connection to the CIC initiatives or the Strategic Framework and narrative reports prepared by CIC to advise the Steering Committee of activities under regional action plans.

5.0 Conclusions and Next Steps

This last section outlines our conclusions and next steps based on the evaluation findings. This information is presented in terms of the main evaluation themes listed in Annex A.

5.1 Relevance

This evaluation shows that activities conducted with funds allocated for the CIC initiatives satisfied two established needs: 1) the need felt by CIC and the communities to strengthen their ability to act in the area of Francophone immigration and 2) the need to attract, welcome and integrate Francophone immigrants to minority communities.

5.2 Design and implementation

This evaluation has identified some challenges to the design and implementation of the CIC initiatives, especially as regards their funding and management, and the control of funded activities.

The initiatives are organized around the priority of improving capacity in the Department and the communities. The fact that most funds are allocated as operating funds limits the initiatives’ capacity to achieve the objective of attracting, welcoming and integrating immigrants. As well, their structure is such that some activities cannot be distinguished from activities under other programs or initiatives. Nor are they monitored to ensure that they specifically address Francophone minority immigration. Because contribution funds are administered by ISAP or RAP, they are actually used to supplement other funds. And because the procedures used are those of existing programs, there are no formal mechanisms to make sure that funds from CIC initiatives are specifically used to support activities around Francophone immigration. The data collected for this evaluation are not specifically connected with the implementation of the initiatives, but they do allow us to monitor Francophone immigration to Canada along with reception services for immigrants generally.

In general, the stakeholders concerned plan and develop their activities in line with the Strategic Framework and not the CIC initiatives. The Steering Committee had no part in planning the initiatives, which were not effectively explained to the key partners. Accordingly, the stakeholders concerned do not have a precise idea of the activities needed to implement each of the initiatives.

5.3 Progress

Despite major challenges involving design and implementation, the activities launched under the CIC initiatives contribute to the achievement of the following expected short-term results:

• Department’s increased internal capacity – By assigning CIC positions to plan and manage activities designed to attract, welcoming and integrate Francophone immigrants to FMCs;
• Co-ordination among major partners – Through dialogue among the various partners and the creation of co-operation mechanisms for Francophone minority immigration;
• Potential Francophone immigrants made aware of opportunities to immigrate to FMCs – By promoting the Francophone communities abroad;
• Recognition of the benefits of immigration and receptiveness to immigration to FMCs – By building awareness of the benefits of immigration among members of Francophone communities; and
• Access to reception services in French – By providing reception services in French in FMCs.

5.4 Next steps

This formative evaluation shows that CIC would be well advised to review its strategy for evaluating the initiatives to foster immigration to FMCs. The evaluation findings confirm that the activities undertaken with the $9 million over five years are largely attached to the broader Strategic Framework process. Instead of a summative evaluation of the initiatives, the Department would do well to conduct a summative evaluation of the Strategic Framework, paying special attention to the Department’s role in achieving the objectives set out in that Framework.

This approach would have the advantage of avoiding a largely artificial distinction between the $9-million fund and Strategic Framework activities. The proposed approach would make it possible to study and measure the impact of the activities arising from the Action Plan on the objective of attracting, welcoming and integrating Francophone newcomers to FMCs.

To produce this summative evaluation, it would be a good idea to conduct an evaluability study to develop a methodology meeting the needs of the Department and the Steering Committee that could be carried out with available resources. This study would more precisely identify the challenges that might arise in the summative evaluation.

The Department could conduct the summative evaluation on the initial timetable. In fact, by 2008, Strategic Framework implementation should be far enough along to justify this approach.

Annex A – Formative Evaluation Framework

Annex B – Detailed methodology

Literature review

The objective of the literature review was to obtain information on the initiatives, the context of their implementation and the activities carried out in connection with the initiatives. However, very few documents dealt specifically with the CIC initiatives directly funded by the $9 million from the Action Plan. The documents we looked at included:

Initiatives planning documents – Treasury Board submission, Management Framework for the Official Languages Program, Action Plan for Official Languages, the procedures of the Immigration Settlement and Adjustment Program (ISAP) and Host Program, and financial documents (allocations) on the initiatives.

Documents related to the work of the CIC-Francophone Minority Communities Steering Committee (hereinafter, the “Steering Committee”) – the mandate and minutes of meetings of the Steering Committee, the Strategic Framework to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities (November 2003), the Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities (September 2006), the Steering Committee’s National Action Plan, and regional action plans.

Documents dealing with activities – The mid-term report of the Action Plan for Official Languages (2005), the Summary of Initiatives 2002–2006 to foster immigration to Francophone minority communities, progress reports from CIC regions, the CIC Action Plan for the implementation of section 41 of the OLA (2004–05 and 2005–06), and the report on the promotional and Francophone recruitment activities (2005–06) of the International Region Branch.

Analysis of administrative databases

The aim in analysing the CIC administrative databases was to identify collected data that could be used to measure the impact of initiatives. The data from the following databases were included in our analysis:

• Field Operations Support System (FOSS)
• Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS)
• Immigration–Contribution Accountability Measurement System (iCAMS)
• Immigration Data Base (IMDB)
• Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC)

Consultations with Statistics Canada

The aim in consulting Statistics Canada was to probe the extent to which their census data could support a potential summative evaluation of the initiatives.

This process included a teleconference call with a resource person from Statistics Canada to discuss the type of data on Francophone immigration collected by Statistics Canada, the availability of these data and the levels of geographic units for which data are collected.

Interviews with key stakeholders

The aim in interviewing key stakeholders was to obtain information on activities carried out to implement the CIC initiatives to foster immigration to Francophone communities and on the data collection process. The stakeholders interviewed represented five stakeholder categories:

• CIC headquarters representatives – The Integration, Immigration, International Region and Refugee branches implement certain aspects of the initiatives at the national level. Five interviews were conducted with CIC representatives at headquarters.
• CIC regional representatives – CIC has four regions outside Quebec: Atlantic, Ontario, Prairies and Northwest Territories, and British Columbia and Yukon. CIC’s regional offices implement some aspects of the initiatives at the regional level. Five interviews were conducted with CIC regional representatives.
• Provincial and territorial representatives – Since immigration is a shared jurisdiction, the implementation of related initiatives calls for co-operation between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. Five interviews were conducted with provincial and territorial representatives.
• Community partners – The community partners sit on the Steering Committee and represent the Francophone minority communities. Four interviews were conducted with community partners.
• Service suppliers – Service suppliers implement the initiatives in the field. Four interviews were conducted with service suppliers.

In all, 23 interviews were conducted with 26 key stakeholders. The interview guides are available on request.

Annex C – Strategic Framework Objectives

The objectives outlined in the Strategic Framework are to:

• Increase the number of French-speaking immigrants to give more demographic weight to Francophone minority communities.
• Improve the capacity of Francophone minority communities to receive Francophone newcomers and to strengthen their reception and settlement infrastructures.
• Ensure the economic integration of French-speaking immigrants into Canadian society and into Francophone minority communities in particular.
• Ensure the social and cultural integration of French-speaking immigrants into Canadian society and into Francophone minority communities.
• Foster the regionalization of Francophone immigration outside Toronto and Vancouver.