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Assimilation? Integration? Absorption?

There’s nothing like a dispute over words to get Canadians to pay attention – and in this case that might not be a bad thing.

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This month Manitoba responded to two complaints by barring a driver from continuing to use his two-year-old licence plate “ASIMIL8.”

The word “assimilate” has been used to describe the process by which Indigenous people and immigrants could mix into the larger culture. Some Canadians consider it offensive, arguing it doesn’t allow room for cultural differences.

Assimilation has been largely superseded by the word “integration.” And now Canadian government immigration officials are talking about a new concept: “absorptive capacity.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada officials are digesting a significant report that defines absorptive capacity as “a two-way process that encourages adjustment on the part of both the newcomer and the receiving society.”