Most of the country’s residents question the effectiveness of the practice as a form of protest.
Vancouver, BC [May 3, 2024] – Canadians are divided on the goals and motivations of people who have toppled statues across the country, and practically half express negative feelings on the practice, a new Research Co. poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample, more than two thirds of Canadians (68%) are aware that several statues of historical figures in Canada, such as John A. Macdonald and Queen Victoria, have been toppled by protestors in the last few years.
When asked about how statue toppling makes them feel, fewer than one-in-five Canadians (17%) answered “happy” (7%) or “satisfied, but not happy” (10%), while about three-in-ten (29%) are “indifferent”.
Almost half of Canadians (49%) said statue toppling makes them feel “sad” (28%) or “dissatisfied, but not sad” (21%).
More than two-in-five Albertans (41%) are saddened by statue toppling in Canada. The proportions are lower in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (38%), Atlantic Canada and British Columbia (each at 29%), Ontario (26%) and Quebec (18%).
Canadians aged 55 and over are more likely to feel sad when they ponder statue toppling (43%) than their counterparts aged 35-to-54 (28%) and aged 18-to-34 (12%).
Canadians who voted for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 2021 federal election are more likely to say they feel “happy” or “satisfied, but not happy” when they think of statue toppling (27%) than those who cast ballots for the Liberal Party (17%) or the Conservative Party (11%).
Majorities of Canadians believe that the people who have toppled statues in Canada should be prosecuted (66%) and that any statue that was toppled should be repaired or replaced with one featuring the same historical figure (57%).
Just over a third of Canadians (34%) perceive statue toppling as an effective form of protest, while more than half (58%) disagree and 9% are undecided.
While 45% of Canadians agree that the goals and motivations of the people who have toppled statues are clear to them, a similar proportion of the country’s residents (43%) disagree with the statement.
“More than half of Canadians aged 18-to-34 (53%) can identify the goals and motivations related to statue toppling,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Fewer Canadians aged 35-to-54 and aged 55 and over concur (45% and 38% respectively).”
Methodology: Results are based on an online survey conducted from April 17 to April 19, 2024, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error, which measures sample variability, is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
Find our data tables here and download the press release here.
Photo Credit: Skol fir (September 2013)
For more information on this poll, please contact:
Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca