35% Of Canadians More Suspicious Of People Who Are Of Arab Descent Or Muslims From The Middle East In 9/11 Attacks Aftermath

Toronto, ONTARIO - A new poll released tonight by Ipsos-Reid, CTV and The Globe and Mail shows that a larger number of Canadians are personally more suspicious of people who are of Arab descent or Muslims from the Middle East compared with a survey released on September 21, 2001 with the exact question in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In September 2001, 27% of Canadians indicated that the attacks of 9/11 had made them personally more suspicious of people who are of Arab descent or Muslims from the Middle East. This has now risen to 35% -- an 8-point rise in almost one year.

Overall, 65% of Canadians today indicate that they are not more suspicious - down 8-points from 73% in September, 2001.

With the exception of one province - British Columbia which showed 23% more suspicious residents in September, 2001 compared to 22% today (-1%) - every other province and demographic has had significant increases.

Those provinces indicating the largest proportion of those indicating that they are now personally more suspicious are Alberta (up 17 points, from 21% to 38%) and Quebec (up 15 points, from 30% to 45%). Other provincial findings include those from Saskatchewan/Manitoba (up 7 points, from 21% to 28%), Ontario (up 6 points, from 28% to 34%) and Atlantic Canada (up 4 points, from 28% to 32%).

On particular demographics, those who are between the ages of 35 and 54 have become the largest proportion to shift their views (up 13 points, from 25% to 38%) and women (up 10 points, from 25% to 35%). Other grouping include men (up 7 points, from 28% to 35%), those over 55 years of age (up 6 points, from 29% to 35%) and those between the ages of 18 and 34 (up 5 points, from 25% to 30%).

A clear indicator in the data is that those with less education are more likely to be more suspicious than those with higher levels of education. Specifically, 44% of those with less than high school diploma are personally more suspicious, compared with 39% who have completed high school, 36% who have some post secondary education and 27% with university degree.

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll conducted between August 27th and August 29th, 2002. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

To view the complete release and tables, please open the attached PDF files.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900