The Quebec-France / Francophonie Network urges Immigration and Citizenship Canada to process the files of twelve French people who are supposed to come and do an internship this summer in Quebec.

While twelve young French people are expected from June 28 in several Quebec municipalities to complete an internship, none of their files had yet been processed by the Canadian Embassy in Paris as of June 7.

In any case, this is what the Quebec-France / Francophonie Network affirms and deplores, which says it is desperate for the slowness of Canadian consular services.

A project threatened with death?

"On behalf of the Réseau Québec-France/francophonie and the Fédération France-Québec/francophonie, I would like to bring to your attention the negligence of your department, which risks signing the death warrant of the Intermunicipalities program, an effective program which, since 1982, has enabled more than 2,600 Quebecers aged 18 to 35 and as many young French people to gain overseas work experience during the summer season,” says André-P. Robert, President of the Network, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser.

In a press release published on Friday, the Quebec-France / Francophonie Network indicates that for the past few years, the tightening of entry measures into Canada has “complicated the management of the program”. He denounces the lack of collaboration of the consular services, but also other bureaucratic problems which would have discouraged several potential employers from renewing the program.

The organization also deplores the impossibility of entering into verbal communication with the officials who process the applications, and the fact that future trainees must travel at their own expense to perform their biometric data in Paris or Lyon.

“Faced with this problem, I formally ask Minister Fraser to intervene to speed up the process so that French interns can come and have an enriching work experience during the summer of 2022”, asks Mr. Robert.