As an American who came of age during the tumultuous Trump era, with the 2016 election marking my first real exposure to the complexities of national politics, I couldn’t wait to move to Canada. Amid the chaos of increased polarization, inflammatory rhetoric, and escalating tensions that defined U.S. politics, Canada seemed like a beacon of reason across the border. Its political landscape seemed a world apart: Less divisive, less extreme, and free from the overt racism that had become normalized within American politics. However, as I settled into Montreal, and my daily scroll through the New York Times was soon accompanied by CBC and the Montreal Gazette, it became clear that this divisive rhetoric was not a uniquely American issue, but a deeply-rooted and distinct phenomenon in Quebec.
Quebec headlines warning of “immigrants threatening national cohesion” and conflating immigrants with “conflict, extremism, and violence” echoed the narratives I’d seen perpetuated throughout American media for years. These sentiments, thinly veiled within Quebec’s rhetoric about protecting the French language, reveal a political tactic that exploits cultural concerns for expediency. By framing immigration as a threat to Québécois culture, politicians deftly manufacture public anxiety about demographic changes, scapegoating newcomers for broader societal issues. The same arguments I’d heard from the Trump administration about immigrants straining public resources or taking jobs from locals were being voiced by Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) politicians, as they blame immigrants for housing and healthcare crises. It was a harsh lesson that anti-immigration sentiment transcends borders, even in a country which actively portrays itself as multicultural, welcoming, and inclusive.
Quebec’s immigration policies under the CAQ government represent a dangerous fusion of economic opportunism and cultural fear-mongering, exploiting immigrants while simultaneously disparaging them. Dissecting the CAQ’s contradictory stance on immigration exposes how seemingly progressive societies can weaponize identity politics to exclude and marginalize newcomers. Understanding these tactics is crucial for dismantling the dangerous narratives that threaten both immigrant rights and societal cohesion, not just in Quebec, but wherever such divisive political strategies are wielded.
A History of Discrimination
To understand Quebec’s current immigration policies, we must first acknowledge Canada’s long history of discriminatory practices. From the late 19th to mid-20th century, Canadian immigration policies were designed to maintain a white settler society. The government actively recruited immigrants from Britain, the United States, and northern Europe, systematically excluding or limiting immigration from Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world deemed “undesirable.” They employed informal mechanisms like border inspection regulations to exclude non-white immigrants, effectively halting the immigration of Black farmers from Oklahoma to Saskatchewan and Alberta in the early 20th century.
This racial hierarchy embedded within Canadian immigration policy was not just implicit; it was legally codified. The 1910 Immigration Act, for instance, included a “continuous journey” provision specifically designed to prevent immigration from India. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 effectively banned all Chinese immigration for over two decades. These discriminatory laws continue to shape contemporary discussions, providing historical precedent for exclusionary rhetoric and policies. Present arguments about the preservation of cultural homogeneity mirror historical attempts to maintain a specific vision of national identity within Canada.
While these overtly racist policies were gradually dismantled in the latter half of the 20th century, more subtle forms of systemic discrimination persisted in Canadian immigration practices. The seemingly objective points-based system introduced in 1967 still largely favours Western immigrants due to its language requirements and education criteria. As Yasmeen Abu-Laban, a political scientist at the University of Alberta, said in an interview with The Tribune, “The shift away from race, to skills and then to ’human capital’ in Canadian immigration policy has obscured, but not eliminated, discriminatory outcomes.”
Visa applicants from Africa face a higher visa rejection rate than any other continent, exemplifying the pervasive biases ingrained within Canada’s immigration system. From 2015-2016, the approval rate for temporary resident visas for African applicants fell by 18.4 per cent. Meanwhile, for European applicants, the approval rate rose 4.4 per cent during the same timeframe. This imbalance in accessibility restricts mobility for many, while affording more convenient visa processes to applicants from wealthier, predominantly white countries.
The CAQ’s Contradictory Stance
In Quebec, the province’s unique position as a francophone enclave within a predominantly anglophone country has long fueled concerns about cultural preservation, although outside of Montreal, Quebec is Canada’s least racially diverse province and studies demonstrate that the use of French in the Quebec public sphere has remained stable over the past 15 years, despite increases in migration numbers. Nevertheless, these anxieties continue to frame the CAQ government’s paradoxical approach to immigration.
Quebec, like many regions, faces significant labour shortages across various sectors. The CAQ government has acknowledged this and recruits temporary foreign workers to fill gaps in industries such as agriculture, food manufacturing, and hospitality. Since 2018, the government has conducted over 60 international hiring missions, spending millions to attract workers from countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Morocco.
While recognizing vital immigrant contributions to Quebec’s pressing labour needs on the one hand, the CAQ administration also portrays newcomers as threats to the province’s cultural fabric and social infrastructure. This conflicting rhetoric leads to irresponsible policies, fostering an inconsistent environment for immigrants, where they are initially recruited for their labour but are then met with insufficient support and resources upon arrival.
It’s hard to square this economically-motivated migration with Legault’s repeated warnings that increased immigration—including the temporary workers that his government has actively sought out—could be “suicidal” for the French language and Quebec’s cultural identity. This framing creates a false dichotomy between immigration’s economic benefits and Quebec’s cultural health, ignoring the potential for immigrants to contribute positively to both spheres.
This exclusionary mindset perpetuates a cycle of precarity for many immigrants. The CAQ fails to recognize that long-term economic stability and growth often depend on immigrants putting down roots, starting businesses, and becoming fully engaged members of their communities.
Scapegoating Immigrants: Housing, Education, and Healthcare
While actively recruiting immigrants to address labour shortages, the CAQ government simultaneously blames them for social issues, particularly housing, education, and healthcare.
In May 2023, Legault claimed that the housing crisis was “100 per cent” the fault of temporary immigrants. This statement not only oversimplifies a complex issue but also conveniently deflects responsibility for years of inadequate housing policies and underinvestment in affordable housing.
The CAQ’s policies further expose the hollowness of their claims tying immigrants to the housing crisis. In late 2023, when the Canadian government announced a program to welcome 11,000 people from Colombia, Haiti, and Venezuela who have immediate family members in Canada, Quebec declined to participate. This decision particularly impacts Quebec’s significant Haitian community, as 87 per cent of Canadians of Haitian origin reside in the province. It also starkly contradicts Legault’s assertion that immigrants are completely to blame for the provincial housing crisis. By opting out of Canada’s nationally instated family reunification measures, the CAQ overlooks an opportunity for newcomers to be housed with their existing family members. Instead, the government continues to prioritize temporary workers, underscoring how the CAQ’s anti-immigration sentiments are rooted in nationalist ideologies rather than the realities surrounding housing infrastructure.
Similarly, with regard to education, Legault has pointed to the “explosion in the number of immigrant children” as a primary cause of teacher shortages. However, education experts argue that the real issues are long-standing problems such as poor working conditions, low pay, and an aging workforce. The government’s rhetoric deflects attention from the CAQ’s failure to address these systemic issues, placing the blame instead on immigrant families.
François Rocher, emeritus professor of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, expounded on the reductive correlation between social crises and immigration in an interview with The Tribune.
“Immigrants can play a role in those issues, but not a significant one. It’s a factor among others. All of these issues: Housing, teacher shortages, are structural problems which predate increases in immigration. Immigrants are targeted [by Legault] as a source of the problem,” said Rocher.
In healthcare, the same narrative runs parallel, with Legault stating that immigration in Quebec is “hurting our healthcare system.” This rhetoric frames immigrants as a burden on the system, despite evidence suggesting that recent immigrants tend to be younger and healthier than the general population, often underutilizing healthcare services. The CAQ government also conveniently disregards the significant contribution of immigrant healthcare workers to Quebec’s medical system. By 2020, nearly 20 per cent of nurses and 35 per cent of doctors in Quebec were immigrants or born to immigrant parents, highlighting the essential role they play in contributing to—rather than straining—the province’s healthcare infrastructure.
Scapegoating serves a dualistic purpose: It provides a simple explanation for social issues that the provincial government has failed to address, while simultaneously reinforcing the notion of immigrants as “others”—not fully part of Québécois society. It’s a narrative that ignores the economic necessity of immigration while fueling social divisions and Quebec’s cultural protectionist narrative.
Language Policies and Lack of Integration support
Stephan Reichhold, director of the Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI), summarized the unjust situation in an interview with The Tribune.
“There is a disconnect between the discourse that says we need immigrants and the measures that are put in place to welcome them. We’re not giving ourselves the means to properly welcome and integrate the people we’re inviting to come here,” Reichhold said.
Quebec’s language policies further illustrate the CAQ government’s paradoxical approach to immigration, highlighting the government’s failure to provide adequate support for successful newcomer integration. Bill 96, implemented in 2022, mandates that after six months in Quebec, immigrants must interact with government agencies—including critical resources such as healthcare, social services, and employment assistance programs—exclusively in French. While actively recruiting workers to fill labour shortages, it imposes linguistic demands that can severely hinder their ability to fully participate in Quebec society, long before they’ve had a reasonable opportunity to develop fluency.
Moreover, the government’s approach to language learning support is woefully inadequate. While free French courses are theoretically available, they are often inaccessible due to long waitlists, inconvenient schedules for working immigrants, and limited availability in rural areas. According to data from the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation, et de l’Intégration (MIFI), as of 2022, the average wait time for government-sponsored French courses in Quebec was 4.5 months, with some regions experiencing wait times of up to eight months. Out of the 50,000 immigrants eligible for these courses annually, only about 30,000 were able to enroll due to capacity constraints. Moreover, 62 per cent of enrolled immigrants reported difficulties attending classes due to conflicts with work schedules. This lack of accessible language training directly impacts immigrants’ ability to integrate into the job market and society at large. In 2021, nearly 60 per cent of university-educated immigrants were forced into jobs below their qualifications, not due to lack of expertise, but because they didn’t meet French language requirements for positions matching their skills.
The discrepancy between the CAQ’s ostensible prioritization of French language protection and its failure to provide adequate programs for immigrants to learn French raises questions about the true motives behind Quebec’s language policies. This inconsistency suggests that language politics in Quebec may serve as a proxy for exclusionary and racially biased agendas, rather than genuine concerns of maintaining French culture. Selective Francophone preservation is echoed in Quebec’s new tuition policies for international students at McGill University: Despite French being an official language in 28 countries worldwide, most of which are in Africa, reduced tuition rates are offered exclusively to students from France and Belgium. This policy, disguised as an attempt to attract Francophone students, only further entrenches a system that prioritizes white, European French speakers.
Reimagining Quebec’s Immigration Paradigm
Quebec’s current approach to immigration is not only unsustainable but fundamentally at odds with the principles of inclusivity it claims to uphold. It’s hypocritical and deeply unfair for the government to recruit immigrants to fill labour shortages, only to blame them for problems the CAQ itself failed to adequately address. To proceed, Quebec must reconcile its economic needs with its cultural anxieties, and call on the CAQ government to implement policies that genuinely support immigrant integration rather than creating barriers. This requires a multi-faceted approach: Quebec must significantly expand accessible French language programs and job integration resources, and foster a political discourse that celebrates diversity rather than weaponizing it. The CAQ government must be held accountable for its contradictory policies, and voters have a responsibility to demand a more coherent, equitable approach to immigration.
Ultimately, Quebec stands at a crossroads. It can continue down the path of exclusion, and the same tired narrative of “us” versus “them.” Or, it can embrace a future where immigrant contributions are fully recognized and integrated, understood as enrichments rather than threats to Québécois culture. The choice is not just about immigration policy—it’s about the kind of society Quebec aspires to be.
