The situation is complicated by the fact that Canada is a confederation. an alliance in which the 10 provinces hold much greater power than the American States. Confederation enabled Canada to pursue Federal bilingualism and unilingualism in the provinces. with limited concessions to official language minorities. Quebecs refusal to grant reciprocal concessions to its 800.000 English speakers exacerbated the current crisis. In contrast to Canada. the United States is historically English speaking. For centuries. immigrants coming here recognized the necessity to learn the common language. Today. however. increasing demands for official bilingualism are producing small fissures in our national unity that may one day rupture. much as in Canada. Some Hispanic activists in this country are demanding Government services in Spanish.
Keywords matched
immigrants