The Expansion of French Language Classes
In a new proposal by the immigration ministry of Montreal, $70.3 million will be added to the existing funding for French instruction within the ministry, bringing the total to $170 million annually. Access to the courses will be expanded to include immigrants who have been in Canada longer than 5 years.
Quebec Immigration Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced as well that the weekly allowance offered participants in full-time French courses will be increased to $185 from $141. And part-time participants, who received no allowance, will now receive $15 for each day of training.
Child and disability care allowances for part-time participants also rise to $9 a day from $7. The expansion of the classes will see an additional 80 French teachers hired, an increase of 17%. The additional funding is hopes to create 300 extra French-class spaces for immigrants.
The province also hopes to reach an additional 4,500 immigrants annually through the expansion and contribute to the full-time French instruction of 17,500 a year. Stéphane Forget, head of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec, said he believed the measures will “permit a more rapid and easier integration of immigrant workers into businesses in all the regions of Quebec.”
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