By Fabian Dawson
New Canadian Media

In a growing world of intolerance, further fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians have become more open, accepting and supportive of immigrants and refugees, a new study shows.

By a five-to-one margin, the public believes immigration makes Canada a better country, said the Environics Institute, which updated its research last week on Canadians attitudes about immigration and refugees.

The survey, which was conducted in partnership with the Faculty of Social Sciences’ IMPACT Project at the University of Ottawa and Century Initiative, involved interviews with 2,000 Canadians last month.

“Strong and increasing majorities of Canadians express comfort with current immigration levels, see immigrants as good for the Canadian economy and not threats to other people’s jobs, and believe that immigration is essential to building the country’s population,” the study authors said in their executive summary.

“And for the first time in the research dating back four decades, a plurality of Canadians rejects the ideas that too many refugees are not legitimate, and that too many immigrants are not adopting Canadian values.

“Perhaps the most striking aspect of this latest trend is that it has taken place all across the country and among all demographic segments of the population; in some cases especially so where opinions about immigration have been the least positive, including Albertans and Canadians with lower levels of education and income, as well as supporters of the federal Conservative Party,” the summary said.

The authors of the study could not pinpoint the growing public support for immigration and refugees, but said it may be in part a response to the pandemic (e.g., a “we are all in this together” reaction).

“It could be a reaction to the alarming political instability south of the border in the USA (“we are not like them”). And it may reflect a solidifying public consensus that Canada’s economy (and one’s own livelihood) depends on making space for newcomers, especially this year when the economy needs all the help it can get,” they said.

Here are some of the key findings of the survey;

• A record high two-thirds of Canadians now reject the idea that immigration levels are too high, with this view strengthening across the country. A majority also believes Canada needs more immigrants to increase its population.

• A majority of Canadians accept if not endorse the premise that the country needs more immigrants to increase the population. This current sentiment reflects a sea change in perspective from the 1980s and 1990s, when most Canadians consistently took the opposite view.

• A large and increasing majority of Canadians see immigrants as important to the Canadian economy, and reject the view that they take jobs away from other Canadians. More than eight in ten (84%) now agree that immigration has a positive impact on the Canadian economy.

• In sharp contrast with Canadian policy, the Trump administration has sharply curtailed immigration, including professional and skilled workers. Seven in ten Canadians say they strongly (35%) or somewhat (36%) favour Canada trying to encourage skilled immigrants who are denied entry into the United States to choose to come to Canada instead.

• Canadians increasingly reject the notion that most refugee claimants are not legitimate, and this positive trend is most evident among those parts of the population that have typically been the most suspicious. Positive opinions about refugee claimants are most pronounced in Atlantic Canada and B.C. Negative views about refugees remain more prevalent in Alberta but less so than before. Opinions have improved in Quebec while stable in Ontario and Manitoba/Saskatchewan.

• For the first time ever, Canadians are more likely than not to reject the idea that too many immigrants are not adopting Canadian values. Immigrants are seen as making Canada a better rather than a worse country by a five-to-one margin, mostly because they contribute to greater diversity and multiculturalism.

• Among the one in ten Canadians who say that immigrants make the country worse, the predominant reason is that they weaken the Canadian (or Quebec) identity or leads to too much. Other reasons include immigrants creating a drain on public finances, hurting the economy/taking jobs from other Canadians, creating a security risk or contributing to over-population.

The findings in the Environics poll come in the wake of a global Gallup survey which said Canada is the most-accepting country in the world for migrants in 2019. Gallup’s Migrant Acceptance Index ranked U.S. ranked sixth.

The index is based on three questions that Gallup asked in 140 countries in 2016 and 2017 and updated again in 145 countries in 2019. The questions ask whether people think migrants living in their country, becoming their neighbors and marrying into their families are good things or bad things.

“In Canada, residents almost universally saw migrants living in their country (94%) and being in their neighborhoods (95%) as good things, while more than nine in 10 (91%) said a migrant marrying into their family would be a good thing,” Gallup said.

(IRCC Facebook file image of a citizenship ceremony)