Views on Multiculturalism
Summary
Canada and the United States have becomes more culturally and ethnically diverse than ever before. Now more than 75% of the immigrants are Latin American and Asian. Cultural diversity in the United States and Canada is supported by government policy that is called multiculturalism. The United States provided funds for bilingualism, and Canada established the Ministry for multiculturalism to help people to preserve their cultural inheritance. Multiculturalism, with its focus on maintaining immigrant language and culture, is a divisive issue on the United States. The immigrant's children were taught in their own native language, but later many Americans opposed it. Multiculturalism, with its focus on maintaining immigrant language and culture, is a divisive issue in Canada. Many of the Canadians support the assimilation of the immigrants in the Canadian culture.

The lack of support for multiculturalism among many Americans and Canadians should not be interpreted as evidence of racism in these two countries. A better explanation for the controversy is that multiculturalism, because it has never been defined, means different things to different people. Canadian and American opponents of multiculturalism reject it because it seems to ignore the need to adapt to the new society. For many people, multiculturalism means that immigrants may retain their native culture for their private lives, but should acquire the new culture's rules for their public lives.