In 1971 Canada was the first country to officially adopt a policy of multiculturalism.

[pampango]

http://www.indepthnews.net/news/news.php?key1=2011-06-16%2012:23:51&key2=1

Canada is a nation of immigrants and diasporas. A generation ago, the overwhelmingly percentage of immigrants to Canada were American or European. In 1967, Canada also adopted a "points system" for immigrants. Four years later, Canada was the first country to officially adopt a policy of multiculturalism. These two changes laid the basis for a radical change in who became Canadian citizens. Now, Asia predominates.

Of a population of 34 million Canadians, more than 1.3 million are of Chinese origin and 1.3 million are south Asian (mostly Indian), with the majority in Toronto and Vancouver, with the largest single group from the Punjab. Apart from English and French, the most widely spoken languages are Chinese, Italian and Punjabi, which is now even used for broadcasts of that most Canadian of games, hockey.

And after decades of impaired relations because of disagreement over the nuclear issue, relations are finally on a firm footing. Canada and India have completed a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement and are negotiating a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA.

There has been a huge amount of attention paid to the economic benefits of getting Indian and other foreign students to study in Canada. The benefits to Canada are usually thought to run in the tens of thousands of dollars. And of course there is the unmeasurable benefit that students who study in another country almost always turn into goodwill ambassadors of that country and help to build bridges, then or later on in their careers.

[FLAprogressive]

1. What is the policy in question?

[pampango]

2. Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_Twenty-seven_of_the_Canadian_Charter_of_Rights_and_Freedoms

Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a section of the Charter that, as part of a range of provisions within the section 25 to section 31 bloc, helps determine how rights in other sections of the Charter should be interpreted and applied by the courts. It is believed that section 27 "officially recognized" a Canadian value, namely multiculturalism.

The section reads,

27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.

Section 27 can be seen as a declaration of a national value of multiculturalism. In 2002, polls found 86% of Canadians approved of this section.