Executive Summary
Submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Supplier name: Leger Marketing Inc.
Contract number: B8815-190333/001/CY
Contract value: $50,861.30
Awarded date: 2019-02-01
Delivery date: 2019-03-29
Registration number: POR-120-18
For more information on this report, please contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada at: IRCC.COMMPOR-ROPCOMM.IRCC@cic.gc.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français.
Léger
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Telephone: 514 982-2464
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This public opinion research report presents the results of an online survey conducted by Leger Marketing Inc. on behalf of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. The research was conducted with 1,366 foreign-born Canadians between March 14, 2019 and March 24, 2019.
Cette publication est aussi disponible en français sous le titre : Sondage sur l’apprentissage des langues officielles
This publication may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes only. Prior written permission must be obtained from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. For more information on this report, please contact Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada at IRCC.COMMPOR-ROPCOMM.IRCC@cic.gc.ca or at:
Communications Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
Jean Edmonds Tower South
365 Laurier Ave W
Ottawa ON K1A 1L1
Catalogue Number: Ci4-192/2019E-PDF
International Standard Book Number (ISBN): 978-0-660-31078-7
Related publications (registration number: POR 120-18):
Catalogue Number: Ci4-192/2019F-PDF (Final Report, French)
ISBN 978-0-660-31079-4
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 2019
Leger is pleased to present Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada with this report on findings from a quantitative survey aimed to provide insights about perceptions and attitudes towards learning official language among foreign born Canadians.
This report was prepared by Leger who was contracted by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (contract number B8815-190333/001/CY awarded February 1, 2019).
Programming at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is developed based on policies that support the settlement, resettlement, adaptation and integration of newcomers into Canadian society. Ultimately, the goal of integration is to encourage newcomers to contribute to Canada's economic, social, political and cultural development. To help achieve this, IRCC’s Settlement Program assists immigrants and refugees to overcome barriers specific to the newcomer experience, such as a lack of official language skills, limited knowledge of Canada and the recognition of foreign credentials. The program provides language learning services for newcomers, community and employment bridging services, settlement information, and support services that facilitate access to settlement programming.
The purpose of this survey was to gather perceptions of official languages and preferred role of government with respect to language learning, experiences and motivators when learning official languages in and outside of Canada, and life-long learning intentions with respect to Canada’s official languages. This survey will better guide and inform future evidence-based policy development and design of program interventions.
The results of this research will be used to provide insight into the programming at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Barriers and motivators to learn French and English will also help inform policy and targeted engagement and promotion. In short, this information will help the government to improve the IRCC program and its promotion foreign-born Canadians.
This research was conducted through online surveys, using Computer Aided Web Interviewing (CAWI) technology. 1,366 surveys were conducted with foreign-born Canadians, in official languages (English or French; n=1,024; randomly selected from the LegerWeb online panel) and in non-official languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Arabic; n=342; randomly selected from our subcontractor partner The Logit Group’s online panel). The core (official language) sample was stratified by region to ensure the collection of a nationally representative sample, while the non-official language sample was stratified by survey language. Opting for a non-probabilistic method for reaching foreign-born Canadians offers the best compromise between cost and coverage.
Fieldwork for the survey was conducted from March 14, 2019 and March 24, 2019. The overall participation rate for the survey was 10.4%. Survey interviews lasted 14 minutes on average. A pre-test of 27 interviews, in both official languages, was completed on March 14, 2019. More specifically, 9 interviews were conducted in French and 18 were conducted in English.
The data have been weighted to reflect the demographic composition of foreign-born Canadians. Based on data from Statistics Canada’s 2016 Census of Population, Leger weighted the results of this survey by age, gender, region, year of arrival in Canada and first language.
Details regarding the weighting procedures can be found in Appendix A.
Leger adheres to the most stringent guidelines for quantitative research. The survey instrument was compliant with the Standards of Conduct of Government of Canada Public Opinion Research– Series A –Fieldwork and Data Tabulation for Online Surveys.
The details of the methodology procedure, sampling procedures, data collection, participation rate, weighting procedure as well as more information on Leger’s quality control mechanisms are presented in Appendix A.
The questionnaires are available in Appendix B.
The views and observations expressed in this document do not reflect those of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. This report was compiled by Leger based on the research conducted specifically for this project. This research is not probabilistic; the results cannot be inferred to the general population of Canada.
I hereby certify as Senior Officer of Leger that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Policy on Communications and Federal Identity and the Directive on the Management of Communications (Appendix C: Mandatory Procedures for Public Opinion Research).
Specifically, the deliverables do not include information on electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leaders.
Christian Bourque
Executive Vice-President and Associate
Leger
cbourque@leger360.com
514-982-2464
Additional information
Supplier name: Leger
Contract Number: B8815-190333/001/CY
Contract Award Date: 2019-02-01
The expenditure for this project is $50,861.30 (including HST).