Lilian Ma Canadian Race Relations Foundation Metropolis Conference - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Lilian Ma

Canadian Race Relations Foundation

Immigration and citizenship in Canada

Public opinion and social trends

Metropolis Conference Calgary AB March 22, 2018

How inclusive and accepting are Canadians of our increasingly diverse society? Has public opinion changed noticeably

• ver the past year?

2

Demographic trends

1871 - 2036 Statistics Canada – 2016 Census

16 14 13 13 22 2222 18 1516 15 16 16 16 17 18 20 21 22 24 25 27 28

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000 14,000,000 1871 1881 1891 1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 2026 2031 2036 Number Percentage

Ac Actual Proj

• jected

More than one in five Canadians is now foreign-born, and this proportion will continue to rise

At least one in five in our 12 largest cities -- and nearly 80% in the Toronto CMA -- are first or second generation

Percent of population by generation, Canada, 2016 Statistics Canada – 2016 Census

There is a different mix of diversity in cities across the country

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Lar Largest Vi Visible Min inorit ity Gr Groups, , Sele Selected CM CMAs, s, 201 2016

Toronto Montréal Van ancouver Cal Calgary Ottawa - Gatineau Edm dmonton Win innipeg g Ham amilton

South Asian Black Chinese South Asian Black South Asian Filipino South Asian Chinese Arab South Asian Chinese Arab Filipino South Asian Black Black Latin American Filipino Filipino Chinese Chinese Black Chinese

Statistics Canada – 2016 Census

Public opinion about immigration and citizenship

Canadians’views about immigrants in 1946 reflected the racist culture and policies of the day . . .

1946 Canadian Institute for Public Opinion (Gallup) Japanese German Negro Russian

60 49 33 34 31 25 24

Chinese Jewish Italian

If Canada does allow more immigration, are there any of these nationalities which you would like to keep out?

. . . and continuing into the early1960s

1961 Canadian Institute for Public Opinion (Gallup)

Should be fewer restrictions Restrictions should continue 53 36 Qualified / No opinion 11

As you know, Canada restricts the admission of non-whites to this country. Do you think this should continue, or do you think there should be fewer restrictions on non-whites?

What do Canadians think about immigration today?

• Environics Institute and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation

partnered to conduct a new national public opinion survey

• Part of Environics’ Focus Canada research program that monitors

public opinion trends over time

• New survey conducted February 5-17, 2018 by telephone, with

representative sample of 2,000 Canadians (aged 18 plus)

• Updates key opinion indicators last measured in April 2017

Today a majority disagree that there is too much immigration, reflecting a sea change in opinions from the past

1977 - 2018

77 80 83 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 97 98 00 02 03 05 06 08 10 11 12 15 16 17 18

Agree Disagree 61 35 60 35

Agree or disagree: “There is too much immigration in Canada”

Environics Institute: Focus Canada (February 2018)

Most Canadians view immigrants as helping rather than hurting the economy and job creation

1993 - 2018 93 98 00 02 03 05 06 08 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 Agree Disagree 56 39 80 16

Agree or disagree: “The economic impact of immigrants is positive”

Environics Institute: Focus Canada (February 2018)

A stable plurality reject the idea that many refugee claimants are not legitimate

1987 - 2018

Agree or disagree: “Too many refugee claimants are not legitimate”

87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 97 98 00 02 03 05 06 08 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 Agree Disagree Neither/dk/na 79 13 45 38 8 17 Environics Institute: Focus Canada (February 2018)

“What makes Canada unique?”

dk/na Other The North/Arctic Hockey Aboriginal peoples/culture Bilingualism Values Tolerance Political system Universal health care Natural resources Peace/peacefulness Weather/climate/cold The people (non-specific) Friendly/humble/nice people Freedom/free country/democracy Land/geography Multiculturalism/diversity 43 17 14 11 10 7 7 6 6 5 4 3 3 2 1 1 9 7

2016 Unprompted mentions Environics Institute: Survey on Aboriginal Peoples (2016)

Canadians now define country’s identity by its multicultural diversity

2011 - 2016 Environics Institute: Focus Canada (2011 - 2016) Yes No Depends/dk/na 89 95 91 6 3 5 4 2 4 2011 2015 2016

“Can someone born outside Canada be just as likely to be a good citizen as someone born here?”

There is near consensus that being born abroad is no impediment to being a good citizen in Canada

At the same time, a majority believe that some immigrants are not adopting Canadian values

1993 - 2018

Agree or disagree: “Too many immigrants do not adopt Canadian Values”

93 94 97 99 00 02 03 05 06 08 10 11 12 15 16 17 18 Agree Disagree 72 23 51 43 Environics Institute – Focus Canada (February 2018)

What values are most important for immigrants to adopt? (unprompted mentions)

Environics Institute: Survey of Muslims in Canada (2016)

But this concern may be unfounded: Muslims & non-Muslims generally agree on the important values which immigrants need to adopt

2016 Surveys of Muslims and non-Muslims

Respect for human rights/freedoms

Need to assimilate

Civility/mutual respect Respect for other religions/cultures

Respect for the law

Respect for Canadian history/culture Tolerance/respect for others English or French fluency 23 26 19 15 17 22 13 15 12 12 9 4 9 10 9 8 Muslims Non-Muslims

Gallup World Poll Canada and OECD Average 2017 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Canada OECD Avg. 85 62 92 65

Worldwide, Canadians are among the most positive in viewing their city as a good place for immigrants to live

Your city/area is a good place for immigrants to live

Gallup World Poll 2017 OECD City/area is a good place for immigrants to live

Finland Denmark Sweden Netherlands United Kingdom USA Spain Luxembourg Australia Portugal Ireland Iceland New Zealand Norway CANADA 92 87 86 86 85 84 83 83 82 81 81 80 80 80 78 Slovakia Czech Republic Slovenia Israel Greece Japan Mexico South Korea Turkey Italy Switzerland Austria France Chile Belgium Germany 78 74 71 69 68 68 65 59 58 57 49 45 41 39 35 Hungary Poland Latvia Estonia Slovakia 30 24 23 21 20

Canada ranks first among OECD countries on cities as good place for immigrants to live

Gallup World Poll Migrant Acceptance Index Selected OECD Countries 2016 - 2017

Denmark Switzerland USA Spain Netherlands Norway Israel Sweden Australia CANADA New Zealand Iceland 8.26 8.25 8.14 7.98 7.92 7.87 7.73 7.46 7.44 7.27 7.21 7.09 Poland Greece Mexico OECD average Austria Belgium Japan France South Korea Italy United Kingdom Germany 7.09 6.61 6.49 6.49 6.46 6.42 6.16 6.06 5.79 4.15 3.34 3.31 Hungary Czech Republic Turkey 3.27 2.26 1.69

Canadians are among the most accepting of immigrants across OECD countries and worldwide

Migrant acceptance index: A good thing that immigrants:

• Live in your country
• Become your neighbour
• Marry a close relative

Concluding insights

Why survey research is important How are we doing?

• Acceptance, if not celebration, of diversity is a well established

aspiration for most Canadians

• Many Canadians sometimes struggle with the reality of those who

look or act differently

• In broad terms, public opinion remains more positive than negative

about current levels of immigration and refugee settlement – despite incidents at home and trends in other countries

• Canadians stand out world-wide as among the most accepting of

immigrants – and this contributes to positive outcomes for both immigrants and everyone else

environicsinstitute.org