Most feel minorities get too many accommodations
Fri, 2008-04-18 04:23
#1
Maysie
Most feel minorities get too many accommodations
Fri, 2008-04-18 04:23
#2
Maysie
Ah, Canada. This survey gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling. NOT.
quote:
A majority of Canadians feel their country makes too many accommodations to visible minorities, according to a new poll.The survey, conducted for CTV News and the Globe and Mail by The Strategic Counsel, showed 61 per cent of Canadians felt Canada was doing too much.
In Quebec, 72 per cent said too many accommodations were being made.
Fifty-five per cent of Canadians living in large cities said Canada was making too many accommodations for visible minorities in comparison to 71 per cent in communities of less than 30,000.
I would like to point out that "Canadians" is equivalent to "white folks" in this story. [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]
[url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080417/visible_min... link to story[/url]
For extra love, read the comments.
Fri, 2008-04-18 05:07
#3
quote:
Originally posted by bigcitygal:
[b]Ah, Canada. This survey gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling. NOT.[/b]
[url=http://www.thestrategiccounsel.com/our_news/polls/2008-04-14%20GMCTV%20V...'s the full report.[/url]
For half of the questions, the answers are hard to reconcile with those to the "accommodation" question.
"As you may have heard, Canada now has 5 million citizens who are members of visible minorities according to the latest census. In your view, is this a positive or negative development, or are you not sure?"
Positive 48%
Negative 9%
Not sure 42%
No answer 2%
The 62 Bloc voters in the sample included no one who said Negative. Remarkably, the 76 Green voters had the lowest "Not sures," the highest "Positives" [b]and the highest "Negatives.[/b]" Those over 50 were more negative, as were those in communities under 250,000 and especially those under 30,000 -- since those are the slower-growth communities with fewer jobs and fewer young people, that correlates. The "negatives" tended to have lower incomes, perhaps due to a larger proportion of pensioners?
"Visible minorities now comprise 16 percent of Canada’s population. How would you characterize that proportion? Is it…. ?" Too large, too small, about right, or doesn't matter? Only 9% said "too large."
"Please indicate whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements. My community is welcoming to members of visible minorities." 81% agree, 13% disagree, 7% don't know.
"Some people say that accommodating so many new Canadians of such diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds means we have less in common as Canadians and that this weakens our sense of national identity. Some people say that having all this diversity is actually a defining and enriching part of our Canadian identity and strengthen our sense of national identity. Which view is closer to your own?" 61% said "enriching and strengthens" while 30% said "weakens" and 9% don't know. On this one, community size made a smaller difference.
But then we get to the specific question: "Some people say that new Canadians hold on to their customs and traditions for too long when they come to Canada. Others say that new Canadians integrate into Canadian life at a natural and acceptable pace. Which view is closer to your own?" Only 47% "acceptable," 45% "too long," 8% "don't know." Now, half of those unanimously positive Bloc voters say "too long." So do 37% of under-35s, 39% of those with college degrees, and 42% of those in cities over 1 million. Something is going on here. What?
"Please indicate whether you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements: We make too many accommodations to visible minorities in Canada." Now 61% agree, only 36% disagree, 3% don't know. Now only 14% of Bloc voters disagree. Every group agrees, even urbanites, high income earners and young people.
What exactly is bugging these people? This isn't just taking the Christmas tree out of the courthouse.
[ 18 April 2008: Message edited by: Wilf Day ]
Fri, 2008-04-18 05:30
#4
Yeah, I'm curious as to jsut what these "accomodations" are. It wasn't defined in the survey.
And I, for one, both as a visible minority and a Jew, certainly have no issue with a Christmas tree at City Hall or any such thing. I think it's rarely people of other faiths pushing that sort of thing. It tends to be secularists born and raised right here in Canada.
Fri, 2008-04-18 05:36
#5
M. Spector
quote:
Originally posted by bigcitygal:
[b]I would like to point out that "Canadians" is equivalent to "white folks" in this story. [img]rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img] [/b]
That assumption is not supported either by the story you linked to, or the report itself, which Wilf linked to.
Do you have another source of information?
Fri, 2008-04-18 07:49
#6
Two things struck me from looking at the actual results.
1. Big city NDP supporters ( okay they are similar to every other party but the Cons) with post secondary education and household incomes over $100,000 are the least likely to buy the racist crap pushed by the media. Conservatives on the other hand don't fair so well. ( I wonder what proportion of babblers fit into the urban, post secondary, household over $100,000 and vote for other than the Cons)
It would have been interesting to see a breakdown by whether or not the people surveyed self identify as a person from a visible minority. I suspect of course their numbers would be less biased but I'll bet it was not 100% for any of the questions.
BCG is of course looking at Canadian society as a whole and babblers would appear to mostly fall into the percentage that is most likely not to be prejudiced. On this board we often talk at cross purpose because of that.
2. In the threads on racism in the NDP it was often pointed out that the Cons have more visible minority MP's but this poll highlights that their supporters are far more likely to be racist. Very interesting but I am not sure how that really works.
Fri, 2008-04-18 07:50
#7
I see nothing in that story to indicate that "Canadians" in that story means white.
This is yr own bias showing. Where does it indicate that these "minorities" are all non - "white" either, whatever "white" in this context means anyway.
The headline is a cheap tabloid style headline which is not justified by the story and many of the Canadians quoted in the article are not people with bloodlines back to the queen of England btw, no mention of skin colour as far as I noticed.
This is part of the problem with labeling and categorizing people - minorities, ect.
If you have Canadian citizenship - you are Canadian.
Fri, 2008-04-18 07:56
#8
Well if this poll was accurate then about 85% of the people polled would not be from visible minorities. It is likely that in fact if the people polled were to be divided into those who identify as visible minorities and those who don't then the percentage of people who do not identify as a visible minority would turn out to be even more prejudiced if not out right racist.
BCG was inaccurate but in favour of "white people."
Fri, 2008-04-18 09:08
#9
Polls like this are an interesting albeit imperfect snap shot of views.
A question that was missed in the summary provided above: 16% of Canadians are visible minorities - is this too small or too large?
10% said too small, 22% about right, 9% said too large and 55% said "doesn't matter".
I'm not sure whether the other question that asks wpeople to rate as positive, negative etc, was an ambiguous question. In any event, this question is much more direct.
Fri, 2008-04-18 09:27
#10
It is interesting that the objection to immigration and accommodation is higher in rural areas; i.e. where there are few immigrants and little accommodation. My personal experience is that the folks who have never met or dealt with immigrants are more afraid of them (us) than those who lived with them in the same neighborhood. of course this is not unusual and is not a matter of being white or colored. More interaction and education will diminish the negative views.
Fri, 2008-04-18 09:37
#11
quote:
Originally posted by sanizadeh:
[b]My personal experience is that the folks who have never met or dealt with immigrants are more afraid of them (us) than those who lived with them in the same neighborhood. of course this is not unusual and is not a matter of being white or colored. More interaction and education will diminish the negative views.[/b]
Yep. That's my experience, too. (And it goes for all kinds of minorities.)
Fri, 2008-04-18 09:45
#12
Maybe this deserves a separate thread - or should be entered in another forum but IMPORTANT NEWS...
From a Facebook group I am on - Canadians for Aboriginal Justice (feel free to join):
quote:
Crowder: It's time for the public to step upLast Monday, April 7, something extraordinary happened in Parliament when three NDP MPs from separate committees managed to get the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples before the House of Commons, a declaration the Conservative government is refusing to sign.
Though the declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 17 of 2007, Canada refused to sign it, claiming that there was no need for it and that it would interfere with current land claim treaties. The declaration itself is designed to guarantee the world's indigenous people collective rights, as well as their rights to culture, identity, language, employment, health and education and highlights their rights to preserve their culture."Irene Mathyssen, our Status of Women Critic, did get the motion through the committee, and what happens now is that you can move what they call a concurrent motion," says Jean Crowder, the NDP Member of Parliament for Nanaimo-Cowichan and Indian Affairs Critic. "It means that it can be debated in the House for three hours. So on Monday Irene moved the motion, which meant that we were debating the fact that we were calling on Canada to support the UN declaration."
Though the House passed the motion, the Conservative Party voted against the adoption and signing of the declaration. "In the past, the Prime Minister has said that the House should honour the majority will of the House, but they have clearly signalled that they don't intend to do that," says Crowder.
Although the declaration will now be debated in Parliament, with the Conservatives strongly opposing it, the only recourse the opposition parties have left to get the declaration adopted and signed is public pressure. With the vast majority of national media outlets ignoring the story, however, rallying public support may be problematic.
"What we actually need is some pressure from the Canadian public to tell these guys to live up to their obligations. Writing the Prime Minister is the most effective way," says Crowder.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper can be reached at [email protected]
[ 18 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]
Fri, 2008-04-18 10:28
#13
It will be attached to the budget by the Conservatives and made a confidence motion. The Liberals will disappear into the shadows.
Any party that puts Chuck Strahl in charge of native affairs has no credibility on aboriginal issues.