Fewer than half of Canadians say they know who to contact in order to file a human rights complaint.
Vancouver, BC [August 6, 2021] – A majority of Canadians believe that some of the country’s institutions exhibit policies or practices that contribute to less favourable outcomes for minority groups, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, almost two thirds of Canadians (64%) believe systemic discrimination is a problem in the country.
Women (67%), Canadians aged 55 and over (65%) and residents of Ontario (67%) and British Columbia (also 67%) are more likely to agree that systemic discrimination is a problem in Canada.
More than four-in-five Canadians of African descent (86%) believe systemic discrimination is a problem in the country, along with majorities of respondents whose origins are Southeast Asian (72%), South Asian (71%), First Nations (70%), East Asian (65%) and European (63%).
While three-in-four Canadians (76%) say they know what systemic discrimination is, only half (50%) believe that most Canadians have a sense of what systemic discrimination is.
“There is an evident disconnect in the personal views of Canadians on systemic discrimination and what they think the rest of the country’s residents are aware of,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “The survey outlines a 26-point gap between what Canadians feel individually and what they assume is true collectively.”
Across the country, three-in-four Canadians (75%) say they know when their human rights have been violated—a proportion that rises to 77% among those aged 55 and over and to 79% in Atlantic Canada.
When asked if they know who to contact in order to file a human rights complaint, only 45% of Canadians answered affirmatively.
Majorities of Canadians of four different ethnicities say they know who to talk to if their human rights are violated: South Asian (66%), First Nations (60%), Southeast Asian (56%) and African (55%). The proportion is lower for respondents of European (44%) and East Asian (37%) descent.
Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from July 9 to July 18, 2021, among 2,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region in Canada. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 2.2 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490 [e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca