I don't think Canada ever really dealt with the English/French barrier - as a whole that is. And especially not like America is dealing with it now. They, Canada, have always just spoken both. BUT America didn't deal with that. Most of our ancestors left their homes to come to America - it is recorded that they left their homes and they learned the new language to fit in.
Actually, we're a nation of immigrants too, so most of our ancestors spoke another language as well, and while they have pockets of homogenized communities, they and their children usually get assimilated into the English/French duality, though it's not rare for them to retain their original language.
Chinese (can't remember if it's Cantonese or Mandarin) is the third most spoken language in Canada, with Italian in fourth, and Arabic gaining huge ground (it's the third most spoken language here, in Ottawa).
Also, it may seem like we haven't directly dealt with it, but that's because it's a daily ordeal. When the English took over the colony, one of the first things they did was deport a huge amount of Acadians, giving birth, as it were, to New Orleans. It may have been the most literal aggression in our history, but our progress has been anything but smooth since. There is an underlying sense of tension in many bilingual communities, and those that are largely uni-lingual can harbor the most venomous ignorance towards one another. We're human, in the end.
It seems ridiculous to me though, to be angry with eachother over something that happened ages ago, between people we may not even be related to. The only thing worth fighting against, as I see it, is the attitude that ancient history should dictate who we get along with.
