Immigrants more likely to say “ethnic diversity” and “equality” are Canadian values
Immigrants are significantly more likely to believe that the values defining Canadians are “ethnic diversity” and “gender equality” than those born in Canada, according to a recent government survey.
Immigrants are significantly more likely to believe that the values defining Canadians are “ethnic diversity” and “gender equality” than those born in Canada, according to a recent government survey.
An access to information request obtained by the Canadian Press revealed that the survey on perceptions of shared values within Canada was given to Diab when she was assigned her role in cabinet last May.
The study asked 34,000 respondents, including 14,000 landed immigrants, during the COVID pandemic to rate the extent to which they believed Canadians shared values on human rights, respect for the law, gender equality, linguistic duality, ethnic and cultural diversity, and respect for Indigenous cultures.
The report found that “nearly double” the proportion of immigrants as Canadian-born citizens believed that Canadians share values on “ethnic and cultural diversity.” Forty-seven per cent of immigrants said they did, compared to just 24 per cent of Canadian-born citizens.
“About three-fifths of South Asian, Southeast Asian and Black immigrants and half of Chinese, Arab and West Asian and Latin American immigrants believed that Canadians shared values on ethnic and cultural diversity to a great extent,” a summary of the study by Statistics Canada said. “This is compared with one-third of White immigrants and one-quarter of all Canadian-born people.”
Two-thirds of immigrants (67 per cent) said Canadians share values on human rights “to a great extent,” while just over half (55 per cent) of natural citizens said the same. Half of the immigrant respondents said Canada shares values on gender equality, while just 30 per cent of natural citizens said Canadians weren’t divided on their respect for gender equality in Canada.
On the issue of having two official languages, 42 per cent of immigrants said it was a shared value, compared to just 23 per cent who said Canadians agree that linguistic duality was a shared value in Canada.
“In all provinces, a larger proportion of immigrants than Canadian-born people believed that Canadians share values to a great extent,” the summary said. “The only exceptions to this case were for perceptions of shared values on human rights and linguistic duality in the Atlantic provinces, where the differences between immigrants and Canadian-born people were statistically non-significant.”
The study found that “recent immigrants” had “particularly favourable perceptions” on shared values in Canada compared to natural citizens, but less favourable than “established immigrants” who had landed in the country for 20 years or longer.
“While immigrants who arrived in Canada as adolescents or adults had more favourable perceptions of shared values than Canadian-born people, those who came to Canada as children had perceptions similar to those of people born in Canada,” the study said.
The IRCC and Diab did not respond for comment when asked how the survey helps inform their decisions on immigration policy and messaging.