Montreal/Toronto, March 21, 2016
To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration (a division of the Association for Canadian Studies) have released findings from a new national survey on people’s attitudes towards religious, racial and aboriginal groups in Canada, relations between communities, as well as contact with selected minorities.
The survey of 1500 Canadians was conducted between March 1 and 3, 2016 by the firm Leger Marketing for the CRRF and CIIM. The results add to ongoing CRRF-CIIM surveys aimed at tracking public opinion on views around the perceived state of race relations in Canada. The results point to growing concerns particularly in Quebec around intergroup relations and notably between Muslims and non-Muslims and Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. See survey highlights below.
To view the detailed results of the survey by province/region, gender, age and other demographics go to www.crrf-fcrr.ca or www.acs-aec.ca.
For further information contact:
Anita Bromberg
Executive Director
Canadian Race Relations Foundation
416-508-9033
and
Jack Jedwab
President
Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration
514-240-9548
The survey was conducted via web panel between March 1 and 3, 2016 with 1500 Canadians by Leger Marketing for the Canadian institute for Identities and Migration and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
Highlights
Opinion: The CRRF-CIIM tracking points to steady declines in positive views of Muslims amongst Canada’s francophones since 2012. After a drop in positive views of Muslims amongst Canada’s anglophones and allophones between 2012 and 2014, opinion returned to the earlier levels in the year 2016. Still a majority of Canadians do not hold positive opinions of Muslims. Opinion of immigrants has remained fairly constant over the period with a slight decline observed amongst Canada’s francophones. Opinion of Aboriginals has remained fairly constant over the period of 2012 to 2016. Opinion of Jews has also remained constant with a persistent gap between Canada’s francophone and non-francophone population.
Net Positive Opinion of….
|
Survey Date
|
Total (%)
|
French (%)
|
English (%)
|
Other (%)
|
Immigrants
|
March 2012
|
68
|
64
|
66
|
79
|
March 2013
|
73
|
73
|
69
|
84
|
February 2014
|
66
|
67
|
65
|
72
|
September 2014
|
62
|
63
|
59
|
71
|
March 2016
|
61
|
54
|
61
|
75
|
Muslims
|
March 2012
|
46
|
35
|
53
|
43
|
March 2013
|
46
|
34
|
50
|
46
|
February 2014
|
42
|
29
|
46
|
42
|
September 2014
|
35
|
27
|
38
|
35
|
March 2016
|
43
|
24
|
49
|
47
|
Jews
|
March 2012
|
72
|
53
|
80
|
72
|
March 2013
|
69
|
57
|
76
|
63
|
February 2014
|
67
|
55
|
73
|
59
|
September 2014
|
64
|
57
|
70
|
55
|
March 2016
|
68
|
53
|
73
|
64
|
Catholics
|
March 2012
|
69
|
75
|
68
|
68
|
March 2013
|
70
|
80
|
68
|
67
|
February 2014
|
70
|
78
|
68
|
64
|
March 2016
|
63
|
70
|
62
|
58
|
Protestants
|
March 2012
|
72
|
68
|
75
|
70
|
March 2013
|
74
|
76
|
77
|
64
|
February 2014
|
68
|
66
|
71
|
59
|
March 2016
|
56
|
45
|
60
|
58
|
Aboriginals
|
March 2012
|
65
|
61
|
68
|
62
|
March 2013
|
58
|
58
|
58
|
57
|
March 2016
|
61
|
61
|
61
|
60
|
Asian
|
March 2016
|
72
|
71
|
72
|
78
|
Black
|
March 2016
|
76
|
81
|
75
|
72
|
Relations: As regards views around relations between immigrants and non-immigrants, in March 2016 a slight majority of Canadians felt that relations were positive. Between 2012 and 2016 there has been a gradual decline in relations between Muslims and non-Muslims characterized by sizable erosion in the extent to which francophones view the relationship positively. A similar steep drop occurred amongst francophones and allophones in the degree to which relations between Jews and non-Jews are seen positively. Unlike the other relationships examined here, there was a significant rate of non-response when asked about relations between Jews and non-Jews. As regards perceived relations between aboriginals and non-aboriginals, since 2013 there has been a very significant decline and the declines are particularly important amongst francophones and allophones.
Net Positive Opinion of…
|
Survey Date
|
Total (%)
|
French (%)
|
English (%)
|
Other (%)
|
Relations between Immigrants and non-Immigrants
|
February 2014
|
47
|
47
|
45
|
57
|
March 2016
|
52
|
47
|
52
|
60
|
Relations between Muslims and Non-Muslims
|
March 2012
|
38
|
25
|
44
|
38
|
March 2013
|
35
|
25
|
37
|
41
|
February 2014
|
40
|
37
|
40
|
47
|
September 2014
|
39
|
38
|
39
|
39
|
March 2015
|
36
|
38
|
36
|
34
|
March 2016
|
32
|
17
|
36
|
38
|
Relations between Jews and Non-Jews
|
February 2014
|
66
|
65
|
67
|
64
|
September 2014
|
65
|
70
|
66
|
58
|
March 2015
|
67
|
65
|
70
|
60
|
March 2016
|
52
|
44
|
59
|
47
|
Relations between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals
|
March 2013
|
43
|
42
|
43
|
45
|
March 2016
|
39
|
37
|
40
|
34
|
Contact: As regards contact with selected groups, the survey reveals that in 2016 there is similar levels of contact between the population with Canadians of Aboriginal, Jewish and Muslim origins. But there are considerable differences in degrees of contact along language lines. Francophones have the least degree of contact with the groups some of which is attributable to diverging patterns of geographic concentration. Anglophone Canadians have more contact with aboriginals while the country’s allophones report greater contact with Muslims.
Often and Sometimes in Contact with …
|
Total (%)
|
French (%)
|
English (%)
|
Other (%)
|
Aboriginals
|
49
|
29
|
57
|
39
|
Muslims
|
52
|
36
|
55
|
65
|
Jews
|
48
|
25
|
55
|
51
|
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