Canada wants more Francophone immigrants. But what happens when people who have already built their lives in Canada suddenly discover that learning French may be their best, or only, pathway to permanent residence?
In this episode of Borderlines, we speak with Maclean’s editorand recent Canadian permanent resident Alyanna Chua about her experience learning French after changes to Canada’s immigration system put her future in the country in doubt.
Alana came to Canada from the Philippines in 2019 to attend the University of Toronto, believing that studying and working in Canada would provide a relatively straightforward pathway to permanent residence. Years later, as immigration targets were reduced and Express Entry became increasingly competitive, she found herself facing an unexpected reality: if she wanted to stay in Canada, she needed to learn French.
What followed was an intense year of studying—early mornings, evenings, weekends, tutors, language tests and significant financial and emotional stress. Alyanna describes putting much of her life on hold, failing one component of her first French test, and watching friends and other temporary residents confront the same dilemma.
We discuss:
• Why French has become so important in Express Entry
• What it is like to learn a language when your immigration status depends on it
• Why doctors, researchers and other highly skilled workers are being told to learn French to remain competitive for permanent residence
• Whether language ability is becoming a proxy for persistence, privilege and access to time and money
• The resentment and competition that immigration selection can create between newcomers
• What people struggling to learn French should consider as their work permits approach expiry
• Whether Canada’s Francophone immigration policy is accomplishing what it is supposed to accomplish
We also discuss live viewer comments and questions, including the experiences of people who have learned French specifically for immigration, the difficulty older applicants face under Express Entry, and whether Canada is losing people it otherwise says it wants to attract.
Aylanna ultimately succeeded. She learned French, passed the required language test and became a Canadian permanent resident. But she describes the experience as “80% bitter and 20% sweet,” with lingering feelings of resentment, raising a larger question about what Canada’s rapidly changing immigration system is asking of the people who have already built their lives here.
Borderlines is a podcast about Canadian immigration law, policy and politics
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