NEW DELHI: Speakers and learners of French language in India wanting to immigrate to Canada stand to benefit with the Canadian province of Nova Scotia launching its new ‘francophone’ immigration action plan.

English and French remain by far the most commonly-spoken languages in Canada with more than nine in 10 Canadians speaking one of the two official languages on a regular basis. The plan, ‘Growing Nova Scotia’s Francophone Population—An Action Plan for Success (2022-25)’ aims to attract French-speaking immigrants to support the existing francophone and Acadian communities.

These communities have been an essential part of the province’s identity and heritage for more than 400 years. In Nova Scotia, Latin for ‘New Scotland’, more than 30,000 people report speaking French as their first language, according to census 2021 data on languages.

The province said in a statement that it aims to meet or exceed the federal government’s target for French-speaking immigrants to Canada, which is 4.4 percent.

Recently, 150 Francophone candidates in the federal Express Entry system were invited to apply to Nova Scotia’s Labour Market Priorities stream of the Provincial Nominee Program (NSNP). All these candidates either spoke French as their first official language or had Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) scores of 10 in all language abilities.

In India, thousands of students and skilled professionals enroll in language institutes and universities to learn French, which is the second most widely learned language after English, and the sixth most widely spoken language in the world.