Francophone Immigration as a Market
This paper analyzes the tensions that stem from the articulation of nationalist and economist logics in the establishment of an immigration market intended for Francophone Canada, and more specifically as they appear in Acadian New Brunswick. It argues that : 1) the State’s recruitment and selection of economic immigrants promotes migration based on a neoliberal ideology of language ; and that 2) this generates conflict within the host community given that Francophone immigration is expected to contribute to its linguistic revitalization. Official bilingualism is put forward by institutional actors as a selling argument on the immigration market and thus results in attracting Francophone immigrants mainly eager to acquire English. By analyzing a debate on the language of schooling, we show that the immigrants’ capitalization of bilingualism destabilizes the nationalist activist stance for which sharing French implies a certain linguistic loyalty toward the Acadian minority.