A house divided against itself cannot stand.
-- Abraham Lincoln, 1858

MUCH OF CANADIAN history can be interpreted as an
effort to prove that Lincoln was wrong, and that a country composed of
distinctive and often conflicting cultures can stand and even flourish. The
tension between French- and English-speaking communities has consti-
tuted a core element of Canadian politics for over two centuries. Indeed,
in a report to the British government on the political struggles of the late
1830s in what was then called Lower Canada, Lord Durham observed
that he "found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state." ¹ The
subsequent establishment of a federal state in 1867 was an attempt, in
part, to find a political framework in which two cultures could coexist
peacefully.

That historic accommodation now faces its severest challenge. In the
aftermath of the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, support within
Quebec for independence and the creation of a separate Quebec state
reached record levels, and the provincial legislature adopted a statute
requiring a referendum on sovereignty to be held during 1992. The inten-
sity of that opinion has softened since then, but it would be premature to
conclude that the threat has passed. The tortuous process of constitutional
debate and negotiations on which the country is now launched is replete

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