When Canadians talk about multiculturalism, they usually mean a 'mosaic' in which people of many different cultural, racial or ethnic backgrounds live together and make up the national culture. Multiculturalism characterizes Canada's cities and towns, its retail precincts and business sector, its government, its schools and universities, and its media and culture. Multiculturalism aims to encourage racial and ethnic harmony and cross-cultural understanding, and to discourage ghettoization, hatred, discrimination and violence. While there has been recent debate over the benefits of multiculturalism, national polls consistently show that multiculturalism is strongly supported by a majority of Canadians.
Multiculturalism has been Canadian federal policy since 1971. Combined with a policy of bilingualism - which recognizes English and French as Canada's two official languages - multicultural policy was designed not only to recognize Canada's diversity, but also to reverse earlier practices of assimilation. Multiculturalism encourages all Canadians to accept cultural pluralism and to participate fully in Canadian society.
For many immigrants and their children, successfully negotiating an ethnic and national identity within multicultural Canada is a lifelong process. People articulate and represent their identities in relation to both real and 'imagined' ethnic communities, and these identities may change over time. Diversity within and between ethnic groups means there is no single identity for any one group.
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