Cardus celebrates Kenney’s senior fellowship by publishing speech on immigrant integration
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18 December 2025
OTTAWA – Cardus is welcoming the Honourable Jason Kenney as its newest senior fellow.
Mr. Kenney had a long and successful career in public life, serving for more than twenty-five years in Canadian federal and provincial elected office. Among other roles, he served as federal Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism, Minister of Employment and Social Development, and Minister of National Defence. From 2019 to 2022 he served as the 18th Premier of Alberta. Prior to elected service, he was a co-founder and President of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“I have deep respect for Cardus, which contributes so much research and policy analysis in areas of vital public interest, and does so rooted in a belief in the inviolable dignity of the human person,” says Kenney. “I’m delighted that they’ve extended their work into Quebec where Cardus will serve as a much-needed voice on the importance of faith in the public square, while also engaging in important conversations around identity and belonging.”
Brian Dijkema, President, Canada for Cardus, welcomed Kenney as a senior fellow.
“We’ve known Jason for a long time at Cardus and have appreciated the integrity and good faith he has displayed both in and out of public life,” says Dijkema. “It’s our privilege to have him as a senior fellow and to benefit from his insights.”
To celebrate his official start as a senior fellow, Cardus is publishing a speech Kenney delivered at the third annual Forum on Faith and the Public Square, hosted by Cardus in Montreal on October 27, 2025. In Faith as a Factor in Integration: Why Faith Still Matters for the Integration of Immigrants, Kenney focuses on Quebec’s challenges with both secularism and the integration of immigrants. He argues that faith communities are some of the “most essential partners” for governments seeking to integrate immigrants into broader society.
“They build trust, teach language around kitchen tables, mentor newcomers, and mobilize volunteers, faster than any grant cycle,” says Kenney in his speech. “They are not competitors to the state, they are civil society complements that turn policy goals into concrete outcomes: learning French, finding jobs, overcoming loneliness, and practicing civic habits.”
Kenney also laid out an agenda for renewed integration in Quebec, which involves prioritizing French as the common language, partnering with faith communities for French-language teaching and finding work for immigrants, tackling discrimination that prevents immigrant integration, and celebrating Quebec’s history of successful and generous immigrant integration.
“If faith communities and civic institutions help dismantle real barriers to participation so that newcomers can learn French, find employment, and participate fully in society, Quebec will not merely manage diversity,” he says. “It will renew a common life worthy of its history.”
Faith as a Factor in Integration: Why Faith Still Matters for the Integration of Immigrants is freely available on the Cardus website.
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