Canadians reject that they live on 'stolen' Indigenous land, although new poll reveals a generational divide
A majority of Canadians reject the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land, and the older people are, the more likely they are to say they don't, according to a new public opinion poll.
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Among all respondents across Canada, 52 per cent said they did not live on stolen Indigenous land, with 27 per cent saying they do. The remaining 21 per cent said they didn't know or declined to answer.
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Notably, there was a significant generational divide among those who answered the national opinion survey, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia.
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More respondents in the youngest cohort, 18-to-24-year-olds, agreed they did live on stolen Indigenous land (41 per cent) than rejected the idea (37 per cent). That contrasts with those in the oldest age group of 65 years or older, who overwhelmingly said they did not live on stolen land (65 per cent) with only 15 per cent agreeing they did.
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In between them, the remaining age groups were on an unbroken sliding scale in their answers: the older they were the more likely they were to reject the statement they lived on stolen land, and, conversely, the younger they were the more likely they were to agree that they did.
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The sentiment rejecting the idea they live on stolen Indigenous land was a low majority regardless of the respondents' region in Canada, except for in Atlantic Canada, where most people still rejected the idea, but at a nationally low rate of 44 per cent, with 29 per cent of Atlantic respondents saying yes, they do live on stolen land.
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The type of land people live on also impacted their feelings on the issue.
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Canadians living in rural areas were the least likely to agree they live on stolen Indigenous land, with urban dwellers the most likely to agree.
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When asked to agree or disagree with the statement 'I live on stolen Indigenous land,' 56 per cent of respondents living in a rural area said they disagree, 24 per cent said they agree, and 20 per cent said they didn't know or didn't answer. For those living in a suburban area, 50 per cent said they disagree, 29 per cent said they agree, and 21 per cent didn't give an answer. For urban dwellers, 46 per cent disagreed, 34 per cent agreed and 20 per cent didn't answer.
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Those living in Calgary were the most vociferous in rejecting that their land is 'stolen' among the cities named in the polling data. In Calgary, 69 per cent said no, 20 per cent said yes, and 11 per cent didn't answer.
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That differs sharply from those living in Edmonton, just 300 kilometres away in the same province, where respondents were the most amenable to the idea: 41 per cent said no, 32 per cent said yes, and 27 per cent didn't answer.
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