Language Planning and Education of Adult Immigrants in Canada: Contrasting the Provinces of Quebec and British Columbia, and the Cities of Montreal and Vancouver.

Combining policy analysis with language policy and planning analysis, our article comparatively assesses two models of adult immigrants’ language education in two very different provinces of the same federal country. In order to do so, we focus specifically on two questions: ‘Why do governments provide language education to adults?’ and ‘How is it provided in the concrete setting of two of the biggest cities in Canada?’ Beyond describing the two models of adult immigrants’ language education in Quebec, British Columbia, and their respective largest cities, our article ponders whether and in what sense demography, language history, and the common federal framework can explain the similarities and differences between the two. These contextual elements can explain why cities continue to have so few responsibilities regarding the settlement, integration, and language education of newcomers. Only such understanding will eventually allow for proper reforms in terms of cities’ responsibilities regarding immigration.

WhileCanadianprovincesoperatewithinonesinglerelativelyinfluentialfederalstructure, theirdemographyandlinguistichistoryvaryinsuchawaythatonewouldconfidentlyexpect important variation in provinces' language policies and in why and how language education is provided to adult immigrants. Moreover, the Canadian constitution allocates education as a provincialjurisdictionandimmigrationasasharedjurisdictionbetweenthefederalandprovincial governments.

How?
Differences and similarities in the reasons why language education is provided to adult immigrants do not necessarily translate into corresponding differences and similarities in the waythiseducationisprovidedontheground.Indeed,whilethesereasonsmaydiffer(andcan beexplainedpartlybythedifferencesindemographyandlanguagehistory),itispossiblethat manycomponentsremainthesameatthelevelofserviceprovision(andcanbeexplainedin largepartbyacommonhistoryofsettlementservicesandfederalframework).Thus,whatlevel ofgovernment-amongthefederal,provincial,andlocallevels-isresponsibleforprovidinglocal languageeducationtoadultimmigrants?Whatactorsareconsultedinelaboratingandmaking decisions over service provision?What language is taught? Finally, what actors are providing languageeducationtoadultimmigrants?
In sum, beyond exploring to what extent reasons and motivations to provide language educationtoadultimmigrantsvarybetweenprovinces,weexplorewhetherthesevariationsare accompaniedbycorrespondingvariationsinhowthiseducationisprovided.

Demography and language history
Asmentionedintheintroduction,demographyandlanguagehistoryvarygreatlyfromonepart of the country to another, potentially impacting on language policy and planning, and on the language education provided to adult immigrants. Table 1 outlines the linguistic composition in Canada, Quebec (and its largest city, Montreal), and British Columbia (and its largest city, Vancouver)intermsofmothertonguesin2011.  Table 2 shows that it is not only the proportion of people having French and a non-official languageastheirmothertonguethatvariesacrossCanadaandbetweencities,butalsothenonofficiallanguagesspokenthemselves. Inadditiontoahistoryofconquestandasteadydemographicdeclineofbothfrancophones acrossthecountryandofQuebec'sweightamongtheprovinces,thehistoryofsocioeconomic inequalities experienced by francophones -even in Quebec -must be mentioned. Indeed, untilthe1960s,despiteamajorityoffrancophonesintheprovinceofQuebec,thelanguageof commerceandofworkwasmainlyEnglish.Indeed,francophoneswerelessinstructed,underrepresentedamonghigherprofessionallevels,andgainedsmallerrevenues(Dickinsonand Young, 2008;PCO,1970).
In sum, the history of conquest and of socioeconomic inequalities, the harsh reality of linguisticdemographicdecline,andthehistoricaltendencyofimmigrantstointegrateintothe anglophone community have had very deep impacts in Quebec. In that province, the fear of Englishand-toacertainextent-ofotherlanguageshasbeenquitestrong,particularlyregarding itsmostpopulatedcityandmainreceiverofimmigration:Montreal.
In sum, we observe extremely different demographic and language histories in Quebec andBritishColumbia.Thesemajordifferencescanclearlybeexpectedtohaveimpactsoneach province'slanguagepolicyandplanning.

The federal framework and immigration
In Canada, being a federation of provinces, jurisdictions are allocated to one level or shared between two. Immigration is shared, whereas education and municipal affairs come under provincialjurisdiction.
Finally,althoughmunicipalitiesareformallyajurisdictionoftheprovinces,thereisageneral trend towards more direct relationships between municipalities and the federal government (Andrew, 2014;Stoney and Graham, 2009). Multiple reasons explain this trend, including the importanceofcontemporaryurbanchallenges,andtheexplosionofmunicipalcostsasapartial consequence of decentralization and of relatively low recent investments in infrastructure (Lalonde,2016).Reviewingtheliteratureonthetopicofmunicipal-federalrelationships,Lalonde notes that most federal funding transits in provincial hands before landing in municipalities. Furthermore,municipalities'rolesandrelationshipwithfederalagencieslargelydependonthe relationshipbetweentheirrespectiveprovincialgovernmentandthefederalgovernment(ibid.).

The analytical framework: A summary
Followingpolicyanalysisframeworksand,specifically,languagepolicyandplanning,ourenquiry intolanguageeducationforadultimmigrantscompareswhyandhowitisprovidedinQuebecand BritishColumbia,twoverydifferentprovincesofCanada,andintheirbiggestcities.Ourultimate goalistopondertheimpactsofdemography,languagehistory,andthefederalframeworkon thesepolicies. Table 3summarizestheelementsaddressedhere. Coherent with the notion of a federation, the Official LanguagesAct applies only to federal jurisdictions and institutions. Provinces can also be active in the accessory field of language, insofarastheyareinterveningwithinthescopeoftheirjurisdiction.

The province of British Columbia and the city of Vancouver
VancouveristheeconomiccentreofthewesternprovinceofBritishColumbia.Whilethecity itself was home to only 603,502 people in 2011 (the eighth largest city in Canada), Greater Vancouver was home to over 2.3 million residents (the third largest metropolitan area in Canada).Between2006and2011,thepopulationofVancouvergrewby4.4percent,whilethat ofGreaterVancouvergrewby9.3percent(MetroVancouver,2012).Likemostotherprovinces andcities,andcoherentwiththeverylowproportionoffrancophonesinboththeprovinceand city,BritishColumbiaandVancouverhaveEnglishastheironlyofficiallanguage.
British Columbia's settlement and integration policies and programmes refer more frequentlytoVancouverandmunicipalitiesthandoesQuebec'stoMontreal.Forexample,the importance of consulting municipalities and local governments is mentioned in the Canada-British Columbia Immigration Agreement: 'The Parties agree to cooperate to work with LocalGovernmentsinBritishColumbiatoexploreissuesrelatedtotheirrespectiveinterests in immigration and pursue opportunities related to communities' interests in immigration' (Government of Canada, 2015).Whereas the city ofVancouver is not directly mentioned in theBritishColumbiaImmigrationTaskForcereport,oneofitsrecommendationsis'toengage industry, local governments, and non-governmental organizations in settling and integrating immigrants' (MinisterofStateforMulticulturalism,2012:20).Furthermore,BritishColumbia's Welcoming and Inclusive Communities andWorkplaces Program'has actively recognized the roleandparticipationofmunicipalgovernmentsintheimmigrantsettlementprocess' (Dickson et al.,2013:23). Municipalitieshavethus'feltthatacloserpartnershipbetweenBCandmunicipal governmentsofsomemajorimmigrantreceptioncitieshasbeenestablished'(ibid.).

Similarities and differences in why and how language education is provided to adult immigrants
We have noticed that, while Canadian citizenship objectives are not wholly absent from the discourseonadultimmigrants'languageeducation,thesecitizenshipandnationalismreasonsare absolutelycentralinwhyfrancizationisenactedinQuebec.Inthefrancophoneprovince,andin francophonecommunitiesacrossCanada,immigrationisseenasawaytoreversedemographic decline and to revitalize the French language.Thus francization -along with the selection of French-speakingcandidatestoimmigration-isessentialtoattaintheseobjectives.Conversely, the financial and economic discourse is what is central in British Colombia's explanations of thebenefitsofbothimmigrationandlanguageeducationtoimmigrants.Theeconomicandjob-relatedreasonsarealsoincreasinglypresentinQuebec'sdiscourseonimmigrationandlanguage education.
Similarities and differences are also noticeable with regard to service provision. First, only FrenchistaughttoimmigrantsinQuebec.Conversely,inBritishColumbia,classesareformally offeredinbothofficiallanguages-whileinreality,Englishclassesaremuchmorereadilyavailable. Bothprovinceshavebenefited,throughbilateralagreementsinimmigrationconcludedwiththe federalgovernment,fromthetransferofresponsibilitiesandgrants.Quebec'sagreementis,however, phrasedintermsofstrictdivisionofauthority,ismuchmoreextensive,andismatchedwithmore grantsthantheonesignedbyBritishColumbia.Bothprovinceshavetheirownadultimmigrant language education programmes. Municipalities in both Quebec and British Columbia have no formalroleregardingimmigrationandlanguageeducation.ThegovernmentofBritishColumbia, however,appearsindiscourseandactionmoreopenthanthatofQuebectorecognizetheroleof municipalitiesinrelationtoimmigration.BritishColumbiaisalsolessopposedtotheestablishment of a direct relationship between the city ofVancouver and the federal government. Similar to the pattern of service provision preferred by CIC, most settlement, integration, and language educationservicesareprovidedinbothprovinces(andbothcities)bycommunityorganizations. Wenonethelessnotethatwhilelanguageeducationisprovidedbythevastmajorityofservice providers in Quebec, it is employment services that are available through the vast majority of serviceprovidersinBritishColumbia.Finally,whilenoMontrealmunicipalagenciesarelistedby CICasofficialserviceproviders,theserolesareundertakenbyafewVancouverpubliclibraries.
Thefederalframeworkcanaccountforbothsimilaritiesandvariationsastowhyandhow languageeducationisprovidedtoimmigrantsinQuebecandBritishColumbia.First,theadoption bythefederalgovernmentoftheBillofRightsandoftheMulticulturalismActhavehaddeep impacts on immigration policies across the country, as well as on the discourse surrounding immigration, settlement and integration, and language education. Second, CIC's involvement in settlement and integration services and preferred patterns of service provision -that is, outsourcingtocommunityorganizations-seemtohavehadunifyingimpactsonthewaythese servicesarestillprovidedtodayinbothBritishColumbiaandQuebec.