As demand for French courses in Montreal soars, volunteers are stepping up to help fill the gap
CRIC program helps newcomers learn language, integrate into Quebec culture
This story is a collaboration between Concordia University's journalism department and CBC Montreal.
Every Wednesday morning, Vladimir Chindea co-hosts French language conversation workshops for newcomers in Montreal as a peer educator. He is not paid for it. He just wants to give back.
"It's also to try to be present, to offer help that my family would have benefited from when they arrived," said Chindea.
Chindea, originally from Romania, moved to Montreal as a child with his parents.
These days, part of his free time is spent helping newcomers to the province get accustomed with the French language as a volunteer with the Carrefour de ressources en interculturel (CRIC).
WATCH | Vladimir Chindea explains why he volunteers:
The CRIC is a French learning centre for newcomers to Montreal. It provides various free services, including language workshops, help with paperwork and free legal clinics to understand one's rights as an immigrant.
"I couldn't be more familiar with the integration and immigration issues that people share with us," said Chindea.
"These are people who have been teachers in their country. When they see a 24-year-old guy teaching them French, I can only approach this with great humility."
Every week, the workshop room, located in Montreal's Centre-Sud neighbourhood, is abuzz with languages, from conversations in Ukrainian, to clarifications in English, to shared vocabulary in Portuguese and Spanish.
The workshops are based on the participants' French proficiency, ranging from beginner to intermediate. The conversations take place in a bright and cozy room, where the atmosphere is welcoming and participants are seated around the same table.
Nearly every week, someone brings in a dessert for the group, and sessions end with a flurry of exchanging contacts.
"It's very special to witness," said Chindea. "People come here first to learn how to speak French, but they ultimately find something more meaningful and bigger."
As demand for French classes in Quebec soars and waiting lists get longer, volunteer-led courses like those offered at the CRIC are helping to address the backlog.
Rising demand for Quebec's French courses
In 2021-22, over 37,000 people were learning French through a government program in Quebec, an increase of 16 per cent from the previous year. For 2022-23, the annual increase was 25 per cent, with nearly 46,000 registrants.
In May 2023, Quebec Immigration Minister Christine Fréchette announced an online portal to streamline requests for French courses, noting some courses were seeing a two-month-long waiting list.
Several French teachers working for the Quebec government have also reported a stressful and toxic working environment along with precarious working conditions.
This is why the CRIC relies on a community-led approach, where its programming is anchored in equal parts integration and learning, says Veronica Islas, the centre's CEO.
"The people who approach [us] usually want to support newcomers," said Islas about the people who choose to volunteer at the organization.
"They are people who really have it at heart, who really want to help and to contribute to their inclusion."
Volunteerism as a way to feel connected
Vicky Auger-Tremblay, who studied Spanish in CEGEP and lived abroad during a language exchange in Spain, says volunteering is a deeply enriching experience for her.
"I am an incredibly shy person," said Auger-Tremblay about what motivates her to volunteer.
"It's a personal goal to become more comfortable leading workshops and I find it good to meet people who share their culture with me," she said, adding she learns from participants as well.
On a whiteboard behind the workshop leaders, prompts are written to help navigate the conversational exercise. One participant asks a classmate on her left, "What do you love?"
Without skipping a beat, she answers, grinning ear to ear, "Dollarama!"
The class erupts in laughter.
Islas says volunteers who lead these sessions are helping knit the community together and are crucial to the success of the community-based organization.
"Honestly, we could not do this activity if it wasn't for the volunteers," she said.
Once a year, volunteers with the CRIC are invited to a celebration where they are given a diploma and thanked for their support because they are "very important, but not always in the spotlight," Islas said.
"They're very recognized by the people they work with every day," said Islas. "But society doesn't really recognize that work often."
'These are like family bonds'
Neusa Martimiano came to Montreal from São Paulo, Brazil to help her daughter settle in the city for school.
Martimiano found out about the CRIC through a friend and says she doesn't think she's missed a single session since she joined.
"I've made many friendships with the teachers, with my classmates from Mexico, from Bolivia," she said.
"These are like family bonds. We learn from each other."
Chindea, for his part, says it's "very inspiring to observe [participants'] curiosity, their resilience, their perseverance and their mutual assistance."
Islas says that without the dedicated presence of her volunteers, there would be practically no space for newcomers to practise their linguistic skills in a safe space.
She hopes volunteering gets its rightful recognition from the government and society at large, instead of just the local community.
This could happen through a special program, Islas says, suggesting a fiscal benefit like a tax deduction for the CRIC, in which the recognition could be something small but meaningful.
"There are many thousands of people who are volunteering, but it's not in the framework that they get all the recognition that they deserve," she said.
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