March 11, 1998
For Immediate Release
Immigration: Canadians Say Give
Us A Breather, Decima Poll Finds
Trusting Citizenship and Immigration Minister Lucienne Robillard's
assurance that she sought a broad range of views on the 172 recommendations
proposed by her Legislative Review Committee, the Canadian Immigration
Hotline commissioned a Decima Research Poll to sound public opinion on
key immigration issue. We had hoped to be able to present the findings
to the Minister in either Vancouver or Toronto. Like many other immigration
reformers, we were turned down.
Ironically, Decima found that only 36.1% of Canadians had heard of
Mme Robillard's hearings, while 63.0% had not. ["Are you aware that
the Government of Canada is conducting a review of immigration policy and
is seeking public input?"] This, we believe, is a further reason,
consistent with other findings of the poll, to have a five year moratorium
on immigration, during which there is a full public debate -- not a two
month rush-to-judgment, --followed by a binding national referendum on
immigration policy. This is the position we've advocated in a written submission
to Mme Robillard.
Our poll, which questioned 2002 Canadians, between February 7 and 15,
1998 and which has an error margin of +/-2.2, strongly suggests that Canadians
want a breather from the heavy immigration flood of the past 5 years, during
which we have accepted more than 1.2-million people.
The poll we commissioned found that Canadians:
- want a 5-year moratorium on immigration so that we
can get the unemployed back to work
- believe that immigration levels are too high
- believe that immigration intake is out of balance
and that too many come from the Third World
- believe immigrants should qualify themselves to come
here. Immigrants should learn English or French before they get here.
Furthermore, there's a wakeup call contained in the poll. A substantial
minority of Canadians, especially in the areas of high immigrant concentration
want fewer visible minorities.
*For the past five years, Canada has admitted
between 200,000 and 225,000 immmigrants annually. Do you think this number
is:
B.C. Alberta
Too high 44.5% 49.4%
About right 43.8% 35.8%
Too low 6.8% 6.4%
*Do you support a five year moratorium on immigration
so that unemployment levels can be reduced?
National
Yes 50.0%
No 43.9%
Don't Know 5.7%
*Today more than 85% of immigrants come from
the Third World. Do you believe this figure is:
National B.C. Alberta Ontario
Too high 48.3% 56.6% 52.9% 51.2%
About right 39.6% 34.6% 34.3% 34.6%
Too low 3% 2.2% 3.0% 2.6%
*Immigrants should not upset the ethnic balance
of a community.
National B.C. Alberta Ontario
Agree 43.7% 46.3% 41.5% 39.45
Disagree 36.1% 35.6% 39.9% 38.8%
Don't know 3.8% 3.4% 5.6% 4.5%
*Should Canada require that immigrants and refugees
be able to speak English or French?
National B.C. Alberta Ontario Quebec
Yes 72.65% 69.2% 70.8% 69.8% 84.3%
No 24.6% 26.7% 28.2% 27.1% 13.9%
Don't Know 2.55% 3.2% 1.0% 2.75% 1.5%
*Should we accept more, fewer, about the same:
People of African/Caribbean origin
National B.C. Alberta Ontario Quebec
More 9.1% 14.0% 11.0% 8.64 7.7%
About the same 53.3% 53.4% 54.6% 49.35 53.8%
Fewer 28.0% 24.5% 25.4% 29.1% 32.7%
People of South Asian (East Indian) origin
National B.C. Alberta Ontario Quebec
More 6.6% 6.1% 3.7% 7.4% 6.9%
About the same 51.6% 48.2% 47.6% 49.1% 55.4%
Fewer 32.1% 37.6% 39.1% 29.9% 31.9%
People of East Asian (Oriental) origin
National B.C. Alberta Ontario Quebec
More 7.9% 4.7% 5.6% 7.1% 11.55
About the same 51.9% 48.1% 49.5% 50.9% 52.9%
Fewer 31.1% 40.2% 36.9% 29.4% 30.0%
People of European origin
National B.C. Alberta Ontario Quebec
More 20.9% 23.8% 22.1% 22.3% 21.5%
About the same 53.4% 51.1% 53.3% 50.2% 55.5%
Fewer 16.6% 15.6% 15.6% 15.5% 17.8%