| Using discourse analysis, this study explores how Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Canadian Heritage explain the idea of multiculturalism on their official websites. Both websites avoid setting a clear definition of multiculturalism. Instead, they assign the task of defining multiculturalism to readers. The CIC website relies heavily on legal frameworks, such as the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, in explaining the concept. The Canadian Heritage website juxtaposes history, policies, programs, and events that are relevant to multiculturalism. Such inconsistent explanations of multiculturalism are problematic, potentially sending mixed signals. The websites also suggest that the present condition of multiculturalism is significantly better than its past iteration, describing current Canadian society as a place where many different cultural and ethnic groups live and work together in harmony and tolerance. But neither website describes contemporary controversies and difficult issues, nor the relationship between the government and those issues. |
