Report

In 2024, YMCA Canada commissioned several reports to explore areas where significant changes lie ahead. The reports were launched at the 2024 YMCA National Conference in Halifax in June. The report on demographic change was prepared by the Environics Institute.

How do Canadians today see relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and how the process of reconciliation unfolding? Confederation of Tomorrow surveys have been addressing this topic since 2019, and the 2024 survey provides a fresh update on public attitudes from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives, and how they have evolved over time.

The study finds that views on whether federal and provincial governments are working well together have not changed that much over the past two decades. However, compared to the early 2000s, Canadians are less likely to blame both governments equally when conflict arises, and more likely to take sides by blaming either the federal government or their provincial government.

The 2024 Confederation of Tomorrow survey revisits the topic of official bilingualism and the importance of children learning to speak a second language. It finds that support for bilingualism as a policy, and interest in children learning a second language, both remain fairly high.

Canadians are evenly divided on the relative priority that should be given to protecting the environment versus protecting jobs. The emphasis placed on environmental protection has declined since 2023 across the population.

The availability and affordability of housing has emerged as a top public policy issue. And it is one in which all governments – federal, provincial and territorial, and local – have a role to play.

Canadians are losing trust in the ability of both the federal government and their provincial governments to deal with key issues such as health care, climate change, immigration or the economy.

The AmericasBarometer surveys measure trust in a range of political institutions and actors on a seven-point scale. Here is a summary of the most recent results for Canada, showing the trend since 2010.

Outcomes for second-generation immigrants are typically measured in terms of educational attainment, employment rates and income. These indicators are important, but they tell us little about the experience that second-generation have balancing the values and expectations of their immigrant parents with those of Canadian society more generally.

This report focuses on the extent of public support for democracy in Canada, and examines whether this support has been weakening over time. The analysis is based on the results of the Canadian portion of the AmericasBarometer surveys, which track opinions on a consistent set of questions about democracy and its alternatives.