Canada: An Intolerant Public

March 21, 2017

Though Canada has been known for its welcoming policies, a new poll from Reuters/Ipsos finds that 48% of respondents want to deport asylum seekers from Middle Eastern and African countries who have been illegally crossing the border into Canada. More than 40% said that these migrants would make Canada less safe. The Reuters poll comes after a McGill University study found that a vast majority of respondents said they would allow “few” or “some” immigrants from poor countries, while only a little over 10% said they would allow “many.” “Whatever is driving Canada’s exceptionally positive history of immigration and integration over the last half century, it does not appear to be an exceptionally tolerant public,” wrote the author, Michael Donnelly, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. The Quartz article is available here.