ABSTRACT
The situation of immigrant language minority groups is affected not only by public policies toward immigration and toward immigrants, and by the historical circumstances of their presence in the host country ( Chap ter 2), but also by pre-existing assumptions about the significance of lan guage and cultural diversity. These assumptions are based in large part upon how the society has dealt with the presence, in its midst, of lan guage minority groups who are not immigrants but have a claim to be longing which is equal if not superior to that of the majority. The situa tion of Moroccan immigrants to Belgium cannot be understood apart from the history of conflict and precarious settlements over the use of French and Dutch, nor can policies toward immigrants to Canada be understood apart from the tensions between English-and French speaking Canadians.
