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Yahoo
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Canadian poll suggests social media 'normalizing prejudice'
A new poll has found young Canadians are the most likely to have heard antisemitic and Islamophobic comments, and one researcher suggests social media may risk 'normalizing prejudice.' The Leger survey, which was conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies, found that over a third (39 per cent) of Canadians between 18 and 24 heard an antisemitic remark and nearly half (46 per cent) reported hearing an Islamophobic comment since Hamas's invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Jack Jedwab, the association's chief executive, told National Post in an email that the high exposure of young Canadians to antisemitism and Islamophobia 'was the biggest surprise' for him when reviewing the data. He said the data suggests social media played a role in exposing young Canadians to such rhetoric. The poll found a 'big spike' in antisemitism, with a marked convergence of exposure rates to antisemitism and Islamophobia for all Canadians, Jedwab said. 'If you look back at surveys prior to October 2023, Canadians were far more likely to say they were far more exposed to prejudice directed towards Muslims than they were to other groups, including Jews,' he wrote. 'The fact that exposure is now relatively similar testifies to a big spike in exposure to antisemitism.' (Only about one per cent of Canada's population is Jewish, while 4.9 per cent identified as Muslim, as of 2021.) Increased exposure to intolerant views, 'risks normalizing prejudice,' Jedwab said. It is 'something that badly needs to be addressed.' He pointed to a recent report showing alarming levels of Jew hatred in Ontario public schools as an urgent call to action. 'It needs to be stated very clearly by persons in positions of authority that it is not acceptable to stigmatize individuals wearing a Star of David or a hijab. Regrettably, there is too much equivocation on this and other manifestations of prejudice.' The poll found that a respondent's perception of hearing a discriminatory comment heavily shaped how they viewed media coverage of the Hamas-Israel war. Among those who heard antisemitic comments only, over a third (35.5 per cent) thought mainstream media was more favourable to the Palestinians, while roughly a quarter (25.1 per cent) believed Israel was portrayed better. Conversely, respondents who said they heard only Islamophobic comments thought Israel received better media coverage (35.8 per cent), while over a quarter (27 per cent) saw the Palestinians getting more sympathetic coverage. Rates of exposure to antisemitic and Islamophobic comments decreased significantly with older respondents. Less than a quarter (23 per cent) of Canadians aged 35 to 44 reported hearing an antisemitic remark, and just 14 per cent of those 65 and over said they heard such comments publicly. Encountering Islamophobic comments was higher across most age groups, but followed a similar pattern. Over a third (34 per cent) of those between 25 and 34 years old reported hearing such statements, while slightly over a quarter (26 per cent) of people aged 35 to 44 said they heard an Islamophobic comment. Canadians living in the prairie provinces reported encountering the highest levels of antisemitic (23.5 per cent) and Islamophobic (24.5 per cent) comments. The poll was conducted between June 6 and 8, 2025. A margin of error cannot be associated with a non-probability sample in a panel survey for comparison purposes. A probability sample of the 1,537 Canadian respondents would have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, or 19 times out of 20. National Post Antisemitism envoy says anti-hate messages are 'not connecting' Ontario students targeted by hundreds of antisemitic incidents, federal report finds Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here.
CTV News
26-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Most Canadians think the country is making progress on reconciliation: poll
A dancer wears beaded regalia as they prepare to compete in the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival's 2024 Competition Pow Wow at Madahoki Farm in Ottawa on Sunday, June 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang OTTAWA — Most Canadians believe the country is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, a new poll from Leger suggests. 'The extent to which people feel progress on reconciliation is being made or not has an important bearing on how they feel about the country,' said Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, which commissioned the poll. The survey of 1,580 respondents was conducted between June 20 and 22. A margin of error cannot be associated to the survey because online polls are not considered to be truly random samples. Forty-seven of the respondents self-identified as Indigenous. Jedwab said that small number and the lack of regional breakdowns of the numbers means the poll should be interpreted with caution. But the poll still shows where Canadians are 10 years after the final report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was released, he said. 'There's several attempts to measure progress on reconciliation by virtue of the extent to which we, collectively, have met the conditions of the various calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation (Commission's) report,' Jedwab said. 'But we're not really taking, up to now, the pulse of Canadians in terms of whether or not they feel progress is being made. 'It's sort of a proxy for helping us understand how Canadians feel about their relationships.' Fifty-five per cent of poll respondents said they believe Canada is making good progress on reconciliation, but their answers vary widely between age groups — 40 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 said Canada was making progress, while 67 per cent of respondents 65 and older said the same. Jedwab said he was surprised to see such a large number of respondents reporting progress, given the many issues in the Crown-Indigenous relationship still unresolved. 'The survey suggests there's something to build on with respect to the relationship, with respect to reconciliation and with respect to how people feel about the country,' he said. The survey also asked whether Canadians trust other Canadians — the vast majority of respondents said they do. But respondents aged 18 to 24 reported being the most trusting of others, at 77 per cent, while those aged 35 to 44 were the least trusting at 52 per cent. Roughly six in ten non-Indigenous respondents said they trusted Indigenous people. Reported trust in Indigenous people is highest in Nova Scotia (71 per cent) and Ontario (64.3 per cent) and lowest in Saskatchewan (38.3 per cent), P.E.I. (43.8 per cent) and Manitoba (44.8 per cent). The survey also suggests respondents who said they are proud of Canada's history are more likely to report Canada is making good progress on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, at 68 per cent. Of those who reported they're not proud of Canada's history, just 39.3 per cent said they believe Canada is making good progress. Pride in Canada's history seems to be strongly correlated with the age of respondents. Just 36 per cent of respondents aged 18 to 24 reported feeling proud of that history, while 78 per cent of those 65 and older said the same. Francophone youth reported being more proud of Canada's history (59 per cent) than anglophones (35 per cent) — a finding Jedwab said he was surprised by, given the persistence of the province's separatist movement. Jedwab said while the poll found most Indigenous respondents reported feeling pride in Canadian history, it can't be taken at face value because the sample size was so small. 'There's a need to actually pursue further research in this area to get a better idea of how Indigenous Peoples feel,' he said. 'We need to be more attentive to that diversity in terms of drawing conclusions about the views of Indigenous Peoples … We do need to better understand what the nature of the relationship is right now, how people feel about whether progress is being achieved or not and how we go forward together.' The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 26, 2025. Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
National Post
03-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Canadians feel unwelcome in the U.S. as mistrust remains high: new poll
Now that Canada's trade war with America has surged back into public consciousness like a blast from the recent past, a new poll suggests Canadian frustration with and mistrust of the U.S. remains high, despite a slight easing. Article content In March, for example, polling showed a dramatic realignment of Canadian attitudes toward its southern neighbour. Europe and Britain were suddenly the countries Canadians felt best about, and Canadians were starting to feel about America the way they felt about Russia. Article content Article content But lately, with U.S. President Donald Trump's attention mostly elsewhere, there are signs of a slight bump back from this low point, despite troubling news developments like the death of a Canadian citizen in U.S. immigration custody. Article content Article content More than half of Canadians now say they 'no longer feel welcome in the United States,' for example, and this sentiment is strongest among women and older people. Article content During the recent Canadian election campaign with its looming threat of crippling tariffs and annexation, there was a 'worrisome intersection' in the Canadian mind of the American government and the American people, according to Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies (ACS). But in this latest poll, he sees a 'healthy development' of Canadian anger and frustration being focused primarily on the American government, and less so the American people. Article content Back in April, barely one Canadian in five (21 per cent) said they trust Americans in a similar poll. But in the latest poll, that figure has rebounded to 34 per cent, which is historically normal, about the same as it was near the end of Trump's first term, but still considerably lower than the 59 per cent it reached in October 2023, Jedwab said. Article content Article content Asked if they trust the United States, the country as opposed to the American people, those numbers drop substantially. A majority of 53 per cent said the country could not be trusted, and only 21 per cent said it could. That distrust is greater among Canadians older than 65. It is also stronger among residents of British Columbia, and lowest among Albertans and Atlantic Canadians. Article content Article content The poll was taken by Leger for the ACS between June 20 and 22, so it does not reflect Canadian reaction to Donald Trump's latest cancellation of trade talks last weekend, which prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney to rescind a digital industries tax, which targeted American tech firms, in order to restart negotiations. Article content 'We just don't trust the motivation behind the re-opening of trade,' Jedwab said. 'We're persuaded we're the kindler, gentler nation, and we're being bullied by their president.'
National Post
24-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Canada's youngest adults more likely to trust Iran and its current regime: poll
As tensions returned to a simmer between Israel and Iran amidst a ceasefire agreement, a new poll conducted before the shaky armistice found that far more Canadians are distrustful of Iran than those who have faith in the Islamic Republic. Article content But data from a Leger Marketing poll for the Association for Canadian Studies poll showed that younger generations are more apt to trust Iran and think it wouldn't be good for the regime of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to collapse and be replaced by new leadership. Article content Article content The polling also attempted to gauge whether respondents 'think that Iran wants the destruction of the State of Israel,' with 71 per cent believing that to be the goal, and even 59 per cent of the 18-24 cohort. Article content Article content Jack Jedwab, the Association's president and CEO, said that despite the younger generations' different perceptions of the conflict, it points to Canadian public opinion being closely aligned with that of the U.S. and NATO. Article content 'That's not speaking to what actions the U.S. has taken in the past four or five days. I'm just talking strictly in terms of the perception of Iran and Iran's position in these global conflicts.' Article content Carney, who'd previously reaffirmed that Canada respected Israel's right to defend itself against Iran as hostilities began in mid-June, said after U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend that Canada also stands against Iran developing a nuclear weapon and called for a diplomatic resolution to the unrest in the broader Middle East. Article content Article content Article content Overall, ACS found that only 12 per cent of all respondents see Iran as trustworthy, compared to 52 per cent who felt it wasn't. Trust was highest among the 18-24 group (34 per cent) and decreasingly lower across each age group, culminating with a mere 4 per cent of those over 65. Article content Article content 'There seems to be some very important differences in the world vision or the way in which the younger cohorts have a different view of the nature of these conflicts and how they position the protagonist,' said Jedwab, noting that data extrapolated from the employment status showed students (27 per cent) were also more apt to trust in Iran than any other age group.
National Post
06-06-2025
- Politics
- National Post
As separatist talk simmers in Alberta and Quebec, Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do: poll
Against a backdrop of fresh talk of Alberta separation and the constant spectre of Quebec's sovereignty movement, a new national opinion poll found that most Canadians say breaking up will be hard to do. Article content A large majority of respondents nationally said any secession by one province would require negotiation with all provinces and must be supported by a clear majority of voters in the province, and most said separation cannot be a unilateral decision, and it should require approval by the federal House of Commons. Article content Article content Article content A national opinion survey, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies and provided to Postmedia, was designed to probe Canadians attitudes about the process for separation, rather than their views on separation itself, and what should follow a successful provincial leave referendum. Article content Article content 'The bottom line is that Canadians across the country envision the process as much more complex than a simple majority vote on a referendum question,' said Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies. Article content Public discussion about Alberta separating from Canada drew more mainstream attention in May, after the federal election returned the Liberal Party to government and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tabled provincial legislation to make it easier for Albertans to trigger a referendum on the province leaving the rest of Canada. Smith said she would hold such a referendum if a citizen petition called for it. Article content Article content Separatists in Quebec hope the renewed discourse on separation will boost their long-standing desire for independent statehood, which twice went to provincial referendum which failed to support sovereignty, in 1980 and 1995. The Parti Québécois plans another provincial sovereignty referendum in the years ahead. Article content That creates plenty of secessionist talk and debate, but it has been 30 years since Canada has seen an actual separation referendum. Article content 'Many Canadians of voting age and, of course, most immigrants didn't experience the last referendum 30 years ago, but there is a growing consensus that the rest of the country would want a say in the process and secession would not be simple,' said Jedwab. Article content The poll asked 1,537 people across Canada a series of questions on the mechanism of a possible separation. Article content Article content A majority of Canadians said any referendum question regarding provincial separation from Canada must be unambiguous, with 59 per cent of respondents agreeing with that, with only 11 per cent disagreeing, and 30 per cent saying they don't know or declined to answer.
