Description

Recently in England I heard a
radio philosopher explain that man, in
order to come to terms with the 20th
century, must get rid of the burden of
the past. This remarkable statement
fails to see the point that the past is a
burden only when it is not understood
and is therefore not a source of wisdom.
In Canada at present we are increasingly
aware of the heritage we have
received from our past, a heritage that
we are striving to clarify and illumine
through our commitment to biculturalism
and more recently to multiculturalism.
From a modern, purely
practical point of view, a unilingual, unicultural
Canada would be much easier
to achieve and maintain, but it would be
infinitely less rich and colourful than it
is now, and it would be an infinitely less
human place in which to live.