A couple of recent polls have sought to get a sense of what Canadians feel about themselves and their country.
Conducted by the firm IPSOS for Historica Canada, one survey posed a series of questions to 1,003 adults online. There was almost no consensus to any of the questions, but rather a variety of answers.
To the question, what single word describes Canada, the most common word, expressed by only 25 per cent was , “freedom”. Historica Canada President Anthony Wilson-Smith thinks that answer may be due in part to Canada’s large immigrant population, many of whom may have come from countries where freedom was not something that could be taken for granted.
On a different McLean’s survey called The Canada Project, one of the many questions asked was “Do you think Canadians are as nice as the world thinks we are”? Well 66 per cent said yes, and 12 per cent said we’re even nicer!
A grumpy 21 per cent said we’re not.
Hockey not universally popular. What? !
Another interesting fact is that Canadians, and probably those in other countries think all Canadians are wild about hockey (which is listed as Canada’s official winter sport). Most Canadians do love hockey, but the poll however showed that a very significant 34 per cent really aren’t interested at all in hearing about hockey or watching it. In fact “loathe” was a word used in the survey.
People around the world generally perceive Canada as a beautiful country, in fact Beautiful British Columbia is the motto on that province’s vehicle licence plate. However only 11 per cent of B.C. respondants would use the word to describe Canada, and a mere 3 per cent overall.
Canadian inventions
What are Canadians favourite Canadian inventions? Well the electric oven came out on top at 44 per cent, followed by IMAX movies at 32 per cent, and the snowmobile at 25 per cent.
McLean’s magazine launched it’s own survey called the Canada Project in which they found that Canadians generally are welcoming to refugees, 57 percent would welcome more Syrian refugees, but 84 per cent say immigrants should be screened for “Canadian values”.
Another 56 per cent said Canada should stick with the British monarchy even after Queen Elizabeth epic reign comes to an end.
As to whether Canadians will join in this year’s 150’th celebrations on July 1, in 2015, some 71 per cent said they would, but this year it’s up ten points to 81 per cent.
Additional information- sources
- IPSOS (Historica Canada) poll- June 7-8/17
- PostMedia: M McQuigge: Jun26/17: Ipsos poll
- McLean’s Magazine: The Canada Project-various aspects- what makes us Canadian
- McLean’s Magazine- P Wells: Jun 1/17: The Canada Project quick facts
- Statistics Canada: Canada by the numbers
- CBC: images of Canada : not beautiful???
- CBC: T O’Reilly: Canadian brands, from symbols to cymbals, shoes, comedy, food, tools and more
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