Background

In 2003, the Citizenship and Immigration Canada Steering Committee released its Strategic Plan to Foster Immigration to Francophone Minority Communities. To achieve the Plan’s objectives, the federal and provincial departments of immigration partnered with key organizations in Canada’s minority communities. This spawned Francophone immigration in Nova Scotia, an initiative spearheaded by the Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse (FANE), which officially represents Nova Scotia’s Acadian and Francophone population at the various levels of government.

In 2006, FANE signed its first co-operation agreements with the federal government, represented by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and the provincial government, represented by the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration, to develop promotion, recruitment, intake and integration capacity with a view to attracting French-speaking newcomers to Nova Scotia and encouraging them to remain in the province. Under these agreements and with continuing government support, Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse offers a variety of services free of charge to French-speaking newcomers to Nova Scotia.

Mandate

The objectives of Immigration Francophone Nouvelle-Écosse are as follows:

·         To increase the number of French-speaking newcomers who choose to settle in Nova Scotia, and to encourage them to remain in the province;

·         To assist these newcomers with their integration in the province, and more specifically, in the Acadian and Francophone community; and

·         To increase the intake and integration capacity of Nova Scotia’s Acadian and Francophone community.

To achieve these objectives, several key organizations in the community have come together under a Steering Committee to put together an action plan supporting the continued growth of Francophone immigration in Nova Scotia.