For his Canadian citizenship, Quebec resident had to pass a Parisian French test. He wonders why
CBC
When Rev. Christian Schreiner first looked into taking a mandatory French language test to obtain his Canadian citizenship, he was shocked to find out his exam would be sent to France for final evaluation.
Schreiner, dean of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City, started his application when he heard that his country of birth, Germany, had approved legislation to end a ban on holding dual citizenship.
The longtime permanent resident of Canada had been waiting for this moment for 16 years.
When Schreiner logged onto Immigration, Refugees Citizenship Canada to start the process of pursuing a language exam and clicked on the link for the Test d'évaluation de français, TEF Canada, he was brought to a website run by a Parisian organization, the Paris Île-de-France Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"I thought I had maybe clicked on the wrong link, so I went back but everything checks out. So that is the one that is authorized," said Schreiner.
Schreiner completed his French exam on March 15 at Edu-inter — a French immersion school in Quebec City — where an employee informed him during the oral evaluation section that he wouldn't be the one evaluating Schreiner's performance.
"He had an iPad and he recorded the whole thing," said Schreiner.
"I asked him: 'what is that for?' He said … 'I'm only doing the test with you, but I'm not evaluating anything. I can only send this in and then basically it gets sent to Paris and they decide whether or not your French is sufficient.'"
Although Schreiner passed the exam, completing one of several steps toward gaining his citizenship, he's now speaking out about how the exam is based on French from France and he is questioning why Canada has to outsource evaluations abroad.
"I think this is still kind of a leftover, like a colonial leftover," said Schreiner.
"If I want to become a Canadian citizen, it's France that decides whether or not I'm good enough. There's something wrong there."
CCI Paris Île-de-France (CCIP-IDF), the organization with the Paris office, says it represents the interests of more than 840,000 French companies.
According to its website, the TEF was officially certified by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in 2004 as the "only test officially approved by Canadian authorities."
The location of the evaluation does not have any impact on the applicant, said the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in an emailed statement.
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