The labour market outcome of immigrants in the Francophone communities of Edmundston and Hawkesbury

The share of Canadians reporting French as their first official language fell from 27.2% in 1971 to 21.3% in 2021, with much of the decline occurring in regions outside of Quebec. To maintain thriving Francophone communities across Canada, 24 Welcoming Francophone Communities have been established in Francophone and Acadian communities outside of Quebec since 2018 to help French-speaking newcomers settle and build new lives. Let’s take a look at how immigrants were faring in the Welcoming Francophone Communities of Edmundston, New Brunswick, and Hawkesbury, Ontario, at the time of the 2021 Census of Population.

Edmundston, a city where French is spoken at home and at work

Edmundston is the second-largest Canadian city outside of Quebec with a Francophone majority. Of the city’s 15,500 residents (excluding institutional residents), 92.6% reported French as their first official language spoken in the 2021 Census, compared with 30.0% for all of New Brunswick and 3.2% for the population of Canada outside Quebec.

While the forestry sector is a significant contributor to New Brunswick’s economy, health care and social assistance (1,620 people) was the biggest employer in Edmundston in 2021, followed by retail trade (1,025) and manufacturing (990).

French is the language most often used at work in Edmundston. According to the 2021 Census, 87.4% of the municipality’s population reported French as their language used most often at work, while 7.9% reported English and 4.6% reported both English and French.

The share of immigrants in Edmundston is below the provincial average

While the linguistic profile of Edmundston is welcoming for Francophone immigrants, the number of immigrants who settled in Edmundston declined for the first time since 2006, falling from 715 immigrants in 2016 to 590 in 2021. The share of immigrants in Edmundston (3.9%) in 2021 was below the provincial average of 5.8%.

The unemployment rate for core-aged immigrants in Edmundston is over double the rate for non-immigrants

At the time of the census in May 2021, immigrants in the core-aged group (25 to 54 years) accounted for 5.7% of the core-aged labour force in Edmundston, which is lower than the provincial figure (7.4%).

In contrast, the unemployment rate for core-aged immigrants in Edmundston (12.0%) was over double the rate for non-immigrants (5.1%).

Hawkesbury, a rural town with deep Francophone roots

Hawkesbury is a town in eastern Ontario with deep Francophone roots and is one of eight municipalities in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell. Indeed, over 1 in 10 Ontarians (11.6%) who reported speaking French in the 2021 Census lived in the region.

The linguistic profile in Hawkesbury is an outlier in a largely Anglophone province. Of its 10,000 residents (excluding institutional residents), almost three in four (74.5%) reported French as their first official language spoken, compared with 3.4% for the province overall.

Although agriculture dominates in the more rural municipalities of the region, Hawkesbury is considered an industrial and commercial hub. Manufacturing (610 people) was the biggest employer at the time of the 2021 Census, followed by retail trade (605) and health care and social assistance (590).

Like Edmundston, Hawkesbury offers a predominantly French-speaking work environment, with 63.9% reporting French as their language used most often at work, 24.6% reporting English and 11.3% reporting both English and French.

Although the immigrant population in Hawkesbury edged down from 2006 to 2016, it increased by 255 immigrants from 2016 to 2021, reaching its highest number since 1996 (585 immigrants). Nevertheless, the share of immigrants living in Hawkesbury (6.0%) was well below the provincial average of 30.0% in 2021.

Almost 1 in 10 Hawkesbury residents are immigrants in the core-aged labour force

Just over one-third (34.2%) of the core-aged labour force in Ontario were immigrants in 2021—the largest share nationally.

Within the six municipalities in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell with a population of 5,000 or more, Hawkesbury (9.2%) reported having the largest share of immigrants in the core-aged labour force, followed by Clarence-Rockland (8.1%) and Russell (7.5%).

The unemployment rate for core-aged immigrants in Hawkesbury is less than half the rate for non-immigrants

Core-aged immigrants in Hawkesbury had an unemployment rate of 4.9% in 2021, among the lowest rates in the county and less than half the provincial rate (11.4%).

In contrast, the unemployment rate for core-aged non-immigrants in Hawkesbury (12.1%) ranked among the highest rates in the province.