McGill Professor Thomas Soehl has received funding to study the challenges allophone newcomers to Quebec face in building the francophone social networks necessary for integrating French into daily life and participating meaningfully in a predominantly French-speaking society.

Soehl, a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Canada Research Chair in International Migration, has been awarded $249,000 for his project, titled Le français entre amis: réseaux sociaux et usage du français chez les immigrants au Québec. The funding comes from the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) in partnership with the ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI), as part of the Programme de recherche en immigration, intégration et relations interculturelles.

Despite significant investment in francization programs, French language integration remains a challenge for allophone newcomers – those whose first language is neither English nor French. While more than 81 per cent of recent immigrants reported being able to hold a conversation in French, nearly one-quarter still lacked the linguistic proficiency necessary for full participation in Quebec’s social, cultural and economic life.

“Most of our language use is in informal settings that are out of reach of government policy – such as social interactions with family and friends, in community spaces and neighbourhoods,” said Soehl. “We are especially interested in how newcomers develop lasting friendships that develop into friendship circles and the settings in which this happens.”

Soehl’s research interests span international migration, comparative race and ethnicity, cross-border connections and intergenerational processes in migrant families. He and his team will examine how social and linguistic integration shape newcomers’ sense of belonging and desire to settle permanently in Quebec, by recognizing friendship’s key role in both encouraging language acquisition and the fostering of lasting interethnic social ties.

The team includes co‑investigator Ana Cañedo (Assistant Professor in the Department of Demography at Université de Montréal) and collaborators Jill Hanley (Professor in the School of Social Work at McGill University) and Clemens Kroneberg (Professor of Sociology in the Department of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne).

While public policy can support language acquisition through mandatory classes and minimum proficiency requirements, it cannot replicate the immersive environments where most ordinary language use occurs, such as friendships, community spaces and neighbourhood interactions.

Central to Soehl’s project is the hypothesis that French is most likely to become the shared language of exchange when immigrants become members of friendship circles whose membership is majority francophone.

The project will examine whether participating in friendship circles with francophones fosters the use and acquisition of French; the relationship between lasting friendship ties and the development of friendship circles where French is used; how shifts in language use and friendship networks shape a sense of belonging and desire to remain in Quebec; and the social contexts in which immigrants build lasting and expandable relationships.

The team will follow approximately 250 non-francophone newcomers to Quebec over two years. Participants will be surveyed every eight weeks on their social connections, community involvement, and language practices across everyday settings. This frequent followup approach can capture the highly dynamic nature of social-tie formation during the critical early period after arrival in which friendships are at their most fluid. A select group of participants will also take part in in-depth qualitative interviews to provide deeper understanding of how individual friendships form, develop and dissolve over time.

By addressing both the conditions that shape newcomers’ desire to learn French and those that encourage lasting settlement in Quebec, Soehl’s project directly responds to the FRQ’s priorities in immigration and integration policy. The team’s findings will be shared through academic publications, policy briefs and workshops aimed at research and policy communities alike, helping translate research insights into more effective, evidence-based policy in Quebec.

Soehl’s project is one of 13 funded through the program’s $2.87 million investment to support evidence-based public policy on immigration, integration and intercultural relations in Quebec.