What is interculturalism?

In September 2007 the public hearings convened for the 'Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences', with an end date scheduled in December 2007. The word "accommodation" was on everyone's lips, in all the newspapers, and in television news reports. What is the exact definition of this term? What is its impact? What are its consequences? Professor Bouchard's article offers us answers to these questions, a better understanding of "reasonable accommodation", and of the attitude we should adopt towards this practice. The 'McGill Law Journal' does not usually translate the articles it publishes. The English and French arms of the Journal are independent of each other, although they are certainly complementary. The French editors seldom, if ever, work in English. The same is true for the English editors. However, when we received Professor Bouchard's article, we quickly realized it was of such significance that on this occasion we would ignore our traditional linguistic division. It was clear that non-francophone linguistic communities stood to gain from the academic contributions of Professor Bouchard's article, especially after one of our anonymous peer reviewers recommended its translation. The primary goal of this translation is therefore to allow the Canadian and international anglophone community to refine its understanding of interculturalism.