Canadians have positive attitudes to immigrants

Canadian attitudes towards immigrants remains on the whole positive, the results of a new survey reveals.

According to data gathered by the Environics Institute for Survey Research, general feelings toward immigrants in Canada have remained positive for many years now.

When asked the question “Are immigration levels too high?” six out of the ten Canadians used the ‘disagree’ option. This is a finding that has remained relatively stable for the last ten years.

What’s more, eight-in-10 of those surveyed said that immigrants have a positive economic impact, and a large proportion also feel that most immigrants adopt Canadian values.

Lots of the findings in this survey extend a steady 30-year trend toward greater acceptance of immigrants.

The report also found that Canadians tend to be less polarised in their views than many Americans and Europeans tend to be. It found Canadians were less likely to strongly agree or disagree with several poll questions and more likely to express uncertainty and doubt.

While on the whole Canadians were welcome to immigration, there were slight differences in attitudes across the country. Albertans and Quebeckers expressed more doubt about the legitimacy of refugee claims than in the previous survey, while respondents in both provinces also expressed more doubt about whether immigrants are adopting Canadian values.

“It’s Alberta rather than Quebec that has the hardest attitudes toward immigrants and refugees, which is not what we tend to assume Said Dr Keith Neuman, executive director of the Environics Institute. “But it’s too early to say it’s a trend.”

Article published 26th March 2018