The Canada-Quebec Accord is a legal agreement concerning immigration issues between the federal government of Canada and the Province of Quebec. The broad accord signed in 1991 preceded similar agreements with other provinces including British Columbia and Manitoba. The arrangement gives Quebec the exclusive responsibility of choosing immigrants and refugees still living in their own countries but wishing to relocate to the province. Selected applicants are issued a “certificat de sélection du Québec”. Citizenship and Immigration Canada issues the actual visa after background and health verifications. The provinces also have agreements with the federal government in that they can nominate individuals for immigration purposes, similar to the way Quebec does.
New immigrants are entitled to settlement assistance such as free language training under provincial government administered programs usually called Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC), for which the federal government has budgeted about $350 million to give to the provinces for the fiscal year 2006-2007. The majority of the $350 million is allocated to Quebec under the Canada-Quebec Accord, at $196 million per year, even though immigration to Quebec represented only 16.5% of all immigration to Canada in 2005. The $350 million is budgeted to increase by an additional $90 million by 2009.
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“I see this evident, that we willingly accord to piety only the services that flatter our passions.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)