Canadians have used the term "multiculturalism" both descriptively (as a sociological fact) and prescriptively (as a political ideology).[4] In the first sense "multiculturalism" is a description of the many different religious traditions and cultural influences that in their unity and coexistence in Canada make up Canadian culture.[4] The nation consists of people from a multitude of racial, religious and cultural backgrounds and is open to cultural pluralism.[5] Canada has experienced different waves of immigration since the nineteenth century, and by the 1980s almost 40 percent of the population were of neither British nor French origins (the two largest groups, and among the oldest).[6] In the past, the relationship between the British and the French has been given a lot of importance in Canada's history. By the early twenty-first century, people from outside British and French heritage composed the majority of the population, with an increasing percentage of individuals who self identify as "visible minorities".