HASIn Canada, diversity is valued as the achievement of a fundamental societal goal. However, the term “diversity” has a neutral meaning. It is an observation, a fact, rather than a virtue or quality. It is used to indicate that a variety of situations, opinions, beliefs, or perspectives exist. Nothing more. If it is presented differently in Canada, it is because it has gradually been charged with a meaning and emotion that corresponds to a particular development in Canadian society. So much so that today we have a Department for Diversity and Inclusion.

In fact, Canada is increasingly seen as a “community of communities”. We are no longer in the perspective of two founding peoples, one English-speaking and the other French-speaking. The concept of a bicultural Canada is dead. In 1971, the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau adopted the Multiculturalism Policy, which recognizes the contribution of diverse cultures to Canadian history and society.

Multiculturalism was later enshrined in the constitution as a fundamental feature of Canada. The Paternity of the Constitution in 1982 [processus par lequel le Canada est devenu apte à modifier lui-même sa Constitution, sans l’accord du Royaume-Uni] includes a new element, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 27 of which provides for this “Any interpretation of this charter must be consistent with the goal of promoting the preservation and enhancement of Canadians’ multicultural heritage.”.

Bilingual facade

This reality is all the more acceptable as the linguistic integration of ethnic minorities is not a problem outside of Quebec. Communities are formed and nurtured over time as English is adopted as the language of public communication. However, this is not the case in Quebec, where language transfer towards French is not systematic and the integration of immigrants into the dominant French-speaking culture is not guaranteed.

Making Quebec an area as French-speaking as the rest of Canada is English-speaking seems less and less possible as Canada practices a facade of bilingualism and regularly invokes the Charter of Rights to limit the scope of measures to protect French by the Quebec government. Thus, the Act on the Secularism of the State (Bill 21) and the Act on the Official and Common Language of Quebec, French (Bill 96), provoked an outcry in English Canada and among the minority Anglophone Quebecers. They have been labeled xenophobic and racist laws.

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