MONTREAL — Quebec is investing $603 million over the next five years to counter what its French-language minister describes as the decline of the French language in the province.

Jean-François Roberge said today that the government’s nine priorities include better monitoring of language trends, boosting the French cultural offering, and improving students’ mastery of French.

Several of the measures are linked to immigration, including increasing the percentage of economic immigrants that speak French and speeding up permanent residency for international students who graduate from francophone programs.

The strategy unveiled today includes 21 measures, some of which are already in place.

Those include previously-announced commitments to raise tuition for out-of-province university students and imposing stronger French-language requirements for temporary workers and permanent immigrants from the economic stream.

Roberge says the vitality of French in Quebec is being challenged by a number of factors including the growing numbers of non-French-speaking immigrants, the domination of mainly-English digital platforms and the number of students attending English universities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press