Uglobal Immigration Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1 | Page 32

31 CANADA VISA PROGRAM | 加拿大签证项目 Today, Montreal is an industry leader in digital arts, technology and design, which couples well with the background of many recent applicants. In this sphere of interconnectivity, local businesses do not simply operate in French; international clients and employees with global education and experiences mean that daily operations are often, if not mostly, conducted in English. IN QUÉBEC, PEOPLE ONLY SPEAK FRENCH Yes, Québec is officially Canada’s only francophone province, but this formal attribute does not reflect the diversity of the province, especially that of Montreal. Again, business is done bilingually, and in the downtown core and western portion of the city, it’s mostly in English. The school system in Montreal reflects this cosmopolitan feel, as there are English and French school boards, with some primary and secondary institutions even teaching in Mandarin and Spanish. It is also interesting to note that immigrants of the past, who arrived in the province without speaking French or English, have been able to successfully integrate into Québec society. Recent statistics 2 reveal that since 2006, within Quebec investment programs, over 31,000 people had been admitted into the province as immigrants speaking neither French nor English. The same report shows that more than 64 percent of these people still lived in the province in 2017. From this we can clearly deduce that newcomers to the province can quickly integrate into society, no matter their language competencies upon arrival. QUÉBEC IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO INVEST Naturally, no matter what language is spoken, immigrants will want to be certain to settle in a location that offers economic stability