Poll shows racialized Canadian to be more anti-immigration than white Canadians

A recent poll has shown that, as Canadians continue to express their dissatisfaction with the current immigration system, the demand for change is more pronounced among minorities than white Canadians.The poll, conducted by the Environics Institute, surveyed over 2000 Canadians over the age of 18 between September 8 and 21 and was done in partnership with TMU's Diversity Institute.The poll found that despite the fact that, overall, Canadians still have split opinions about the current immigration system, Canadians classified as "racialized," or who are first-generation immigrants to the country, tend to have a more negative view of the current immigration system. The survey showed that when asked to agree or disagree with the statement "There is too much immigration," 51% of racialized Canadians stated they agreed while just 47% of white Canadians said the same thing.This trend was seen across the other three similar questions as well.When asked what they thought about the statement that "too many immigrants are not adopting Canadian values," 60% of racialized Canadians stated they agreed compared to 57% of white Canadians..The poll also found that 38% of racialized Canadians agree with the statement that "Canada accepts too many immigrants from racial minority groups" compared to 34% of white Canadians who said they agreed with the same statement.Finally, the question that had the largest gap between white and racialized Canadians was the statement that "many refugee claimants are not real refugees."Among white Canadians, only 41% said they agreed with this statement, while 54% of racialized Canadians indicated that they agreed, a difference of 13%.The reasons for this divide are likely multifaceted, though individuals who have already completed the immigration process themselves frequently adopt a more critical perspective toward subsequent arrivals.The poll also broke down respondents to these statements by immigration status, basically if they were first-, second-, or third-generation or more removed from an ancestral immigrant.With the exception of the first statement, "There is too much immigration," those who were classified as "first-generation" Canadians were the most likely to agree with the other three statements..Unsurprisingly, when looking at the results by political party support, those who said they support the Conservatives are less supportive of the current immigration system. When asked if they agree that there is currently too much immigration coming into Canada, 80% of Conservative voters said they agreed with that statement, compared to just 36% of Liberals when asked the same question. .This partisan divide, while not surprising, does highlight that the current Liberal government's decision to decrease immigration may be an issue where the actions of the party may go against the wishes of the base.The report from the Environics Institute states that "Over the past two years, agreement that there is too much immigration to Canada has edged downward among supporters of the Liberal Party and the NDP, as well among undecided voters.""However, it has remained constant and comparatively high among supporters of the Conservative Party. As a result, Conservative Party supporters (80%) are currently twice as likely as Liberal Party supporters (36%)."Overall, Canadians remain split over the issue of immigration; among all Canadians, 48% agree that there is too much immigration, while 48% responded that they don't agree with this assessment.While the issue remains divisive, it is interesting that racialized Canadians seem to hold a more negative view of the current immigration system than white Canadians, contrary to the arguments usually made in public debate about the subject.

Poll shows racialized Canadian to be more anti-immigration than white Canadians

Related Stories

All four Conservative floor-crossers could retain seats as Liberals

New poll shows Liberals hold 21-point national lead, tied with Tories in Alberta

Liberal lead grows to record 17 points over Tories

Angus Reid Premiers poll shows Smith with lowest ever approval, Eby, Ford jump ten points