In the early months of 2020, prior to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, news headlines in the country were focused on the protests taking place over issues relating to Indigenous Peoples’ rights and control over national resource development. These issues were soon overshadowed by the public health emergency triggered by the pandemic, but not necessarily forgotten. In the ensuing period, non-Indigenous Canadians have grown somewhat more supportive of Indigenous rights; and somewhat more concerned about the slow pace of progress being made toward reconciliation. And a growing proportion is also recognizing that individual Canadians have a role to play in efforts to bring about reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
This report presents the views of both Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous people. The results are taken from a survey conducted prior to the discovery in May 2021 of the graves of 215 First Nations children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Survey Details
The 2021 study consists of a survey of 5,814 adults, conducted online in the provinces between January 25 and February 17; and online and by telephone in the territories between January 25 and March 1.
Acknowledgements
The Environics Institute would like to acknowledge the support of the Institute for Research on Public Policy which made possible the translation of the summary of this report. / L’Environics Institute tient à remercier l’Institut de recherche en politiques publiques pour son soutien dans la traduction du sommaire du présent rapport.
The Confederation of Tomorrow surveys give voice to Canadians about the major issues shaping the future of the federation and their political communities. They are conducted annually by an association of the country’s leading public policy and socio-economic research organizations: the Environics Institute for Survey Research, the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, the Canada West Foundation, the Centre D’Analyse Politique – Constitution et Fédéralisme, the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and the First Nations Financial Management Board.
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