Naema Ahmed, a 29-year-old, Egyptian-born pharmacist and mother of three, is - except for one small detail - a perfect example of those who immigrate to Quebec today.
She is young, well educated, and wants to work. She is, or rather was, willing to put in the time and effort to learn French. If it hadn't been for the uproar about her face veil she might be a step closer to working as a pharmacist by now. But uproar there was: She was ordered out of two French-language classes and turned into a symbol of the ingrate who refused to adjust to a new social environment.
Ahmed's disgraceful treatment was really the last thing Quebec needed as it faces a population crisis that at this point only increased immigration can resolve. Quebec's population is aging, its birth rate is low and it is dependent on immigrants to replace its workforce.
Now, a new study shows - for those willing to pay attention - that Quebec is much less successful at integrating immigrants than other Canadian provinces. Since the early 1980s, immigrants to Quebec have seen their employment levels fall compared with native-born Quebecers and their salary levels drop.
Despite being better educated, younger, and better versed in English and French than immigrants to either Ontario or British Columbia, immigrants to Quebec are struggling more than those in other provinces.
In 2006, among immigrants aged 25 to 54, those in Quebec experienced a rate of unemployment that was double that among immigrants to British Columbia and Ontario. Quebec immigrants' unemployment rate of 11.2 per cent was also double that of 5.2 per cent among native-born Quebecers. Among immigrants who have been in Quebec for five years or less, nearly one in five is unemployed.
The researchers, with the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en analyse des organisations, put forward a number of possible causes: Problems with professional qualifications not being recognized, discrimination in the workplace, an overly generous welfare system.
These are all issues that Quebec could control, the researchers point out, just as it controls for the most part who it accepts as immigrants. The province has done little to explain to Quebecers just how much they need newcomers to keep the economy turning over.
People are far more likely to look past the small stuff when they realize their livelihoods and retirement years depend on a steady stream of able-bodied workers from abroad.
They might even see past the veil.