Mr. Chair, I think that vitality and assimilation are two sides of the same coin. The vitality of minority communities has often been raised, including as part of this committee's work. A dynamic community is one with social-cultural and economic resources. It is one with a strong civil society that has the capacity to grow. Such communities do more than survive, they flourish; they can become regional centres.
We are conducting very specific and detailed studies on vitality, in very close cooperation with community institutions. Without addressing assimilation per se, those studies greatly contribute to the development of communities, not only in terms of demographics but also with regard to culture and community confidence. A confident society has much less to fear from assimilation.