OTTAWA — As people across the country gather for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a new poll suggests Canadians are divided about whether the country belongs primarily to Indigenous Peoples.
The Leger poll of 1,627 people conducted between Aug. 29 and 31 for the Association for Canadian Studies suggests 38 per cent of Canadians believe Canada belongs “first and foremost” to Indigenous Peoples.
Another 43 per cent of Canadians who responded don’t agree with that sentiment, while 19 per cent of respondents say they don’t know.
The poll, which was conducted online and can’t be assigned a margin of error, suggests that younger Canadians aged 18 to 24 are far more likely to think the country belongs to Indigenous peoples, at 58 per cent, compared with Canadians aged 65 and older, at 24 per cent.
The poll suggests people born outside of Canada are more likely to say the country belongs to Indigenous people, at 50 per cent, than people born in Canada, at 36 per cent.
Almost three quarters of a small sample of 41 respondents who identify as Indigenous say Canada belongs first and foremost to Indigenous peoples, compared to 37 per cent of non-Indigenous respondents.
Forty-six per cent of Ontarians who answered the poll say Canada belongs first and foremost to Indigenous Peoples, compared to around a third of people in Quebec, B.C. and the Prairie provinces.
Veldon Coburn, associate professor and faculty chair of the Indigenous Relations Initiative at McGill University, said the survey confirms regional and ideological divisions consistent with past research.
“Quite apart from the reality of Indigenous prior occupation and the history of European colonialism, there are some regions, such as the Prairies and Quebec, which are marked by considerable similarities in their disproportionate denial of these facts,” said Coburn. “The prevailing political sentiments in those parts of the country are generally unfavourable to Indigenous people, something that goes hand-in-hand with Western alienation and Quebec separatism movements.”
“In these places, the non-Indigenous population has been rigidly hostile to Indigenous territorial title and rights.”
Coburn said that more broadly, it seems that antagonism toward Indigenous people is being “dislodged” by higher levels of education in younger generations and newcomers.
“All told, it is the younger generation and newcomers that are inheriting a relationship with the First Nations of these lands and the survey indicates that they desire justice and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples,” Coburn said.
People who consider themselves to be on the “left” of the ideological spectrum were much more likely to say Canada belongs first and foremost to Indigenous peoples than people who consider themselves to be on the “right.”
Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the survey shows there is a large divide on the question.
The polling shows a big generational shift in Canadian society and how our narrative has shifted considerably, he said.
“When we think about truth and reconciliation, it’s important to have a narrative that’s an inclusive narrative for all of us that but that recognizes the importance of the Indigenous role in the evolution of the country but that also does not diminish the role of others.”
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.
