Learn French in 6 months? Quebec-commissioned report shows why that's nearly impossible

A report commissioned by the Quebec government — and then kept hidden — lays out in detail why many newcomers are likely to require more than six months to learn French, contrary to new rules put forward in the province's updated language law.

The study was ordered by the province's Immigration Ministry in 2019 and presented in April 2021, a month before the Coalition Avenir Québec government introduced Bill 96.

It was never made public, and was obtained by CBC News under access-to-information legislation.

As part of the qualitative study, researchers interviewed 58 adults who had recently arrived in Quebec from countries around the world. The most common were Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Burundi.

The focus in particular was on what changes could be made to a government-funded French program to improve outcomes for those without a strong educational background. Some of those interviewed were unable to read in their native language.

The challenges documented in the report range from practical aspects of settling in a new place, such as finding a job and a place to live, to dealing with the trauma newcomers experienced in their home countries.

Garine Papazian-Zohrabian, associate professor in educational psychology at the Université de Montréal, conducted the research with the help of her students.

Papazian-Zohrabian said she was surprised and disappointed when she first saw what was in Bill 96. 

"They asked for it, they paid for it and they disregarded the report that came out of it," Papazian-Zohrabian said of the government in an interview.

The Immigration Ministry did not return a request for comment. 

In Papazian-Zohrabian's view, "disregarding the needs of the most vulnerable immigrant population" is "inhuman, and at the same time, it's also discriminating."

Papazian-Zohrabian originally relayed her frustration in an interview with La Presse last month. The Immigration Ministry did not share the report with the journalist, Rima Elkouri.

Totaling 147 pages, the document includes a list of recommendations to assist immigrants in learning French. 

The first recommendation is to give learners the time to settle in Quebec before beginning French courses.