Prioritising Community Cohesion to Promote Immigrant Retention: the Politics of Belonging in Canadian Francophone Minority Communities

The Canadian federal government is aiming to increase Francophone immigration in order to support Francophone minority communities (FMCs), but retention remains a key challenge. Given their minority context, FMCs must not only be open to the growing demographic diversity resulting from increased immigration but must also support community cohesion by addressing potential barriers related to inclusion and participation of immigrants to engage them as full members of the community. Informed by the broader literature on social cohesion, our study focused on the politics of belonging at the local scale. We adopted a qualitative case study methodology to examine the experiences of community members in three mid-sized Canadian cities located in distinct provinces: Winnipeg (Manitoba), Ottawa (Ontario) and Moncton (New Brunswick). We conducted focus groups in each city with members of the local FMC, including those born in Canada and abroad, to understand their daily experiences of living in smaller communities experiencing demographic diversification. We share findings in relation to two central themes. First, we outline the facilitators of social participation in the FMC that participants described as enabling their community engagement. Second, we unpack the perceived role of Francophone spaces for supporting community cohesion. Our findings can inform efforts to support community cohesion and promote retention among FMCs, as well as additional linguistic minority communities in other countries.