One Year After The Tsunami Hit: A New World Vision Canada Study

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos Reid Survey conducted on behalf of World Vision Canada, most (71%) Canadians think various non-government organization agencies such as the Red Cross and World Vision did a great job in helping people affected by the many natural disasters during 2005. Half of Canadians think Canadian military (50%) and the Canadian public (48%) did a great job. The four other groups measured--the Federal Government, provincial governments, the United Nations, and local community groups--received mostly average evaluations.

When it comes to which of these groups does the best job of getting actual relief and dollars to people who are in need of help from these disasters, not-for-profit agencies come out on top again with 81% of Canadians who say that they were among the best. In comparison, each of the other groups noted above were thought to be among the best by just 30% of Canadians or fewer.

Seven in ten (70%) Canadians are of the mind that natural disasters will keep happening in the world and the federal government should set aside more money from the $12 billion projected surplus to give to aid agencies for disasters when they come up next year. In addition, 92% of Canadians think aid money should go through international aid agencies, not directly to the affected country's government because political and business corruption in some countries prevents people who are really suffering from getting what they need.

Canadians' donations to disaster relief efforts in 2005 appear to have been the same or more than they were in previous years. Forty-five percent of Canadians say their donation increased and 50% say they donated the same amount. Two-thirds (66%) of Canadians indicate that they donated at least some money to various disaster relief groups in 2005 and as a whole these Canadians estimate donating a mean average of $441.92.

One-third (31%) of Canadians think the magnitude of Canadians' giving for potential victims of disasters in 2006 should be more given all the natural disasters that occurred this past year, while 62% think it should be about the same. And when it comes to their own contributions, one-quarter (24%) of Canadians say they will give more if there is a similar series of disasters in 2006 and 65% say they will give the same amount.

The survey also finds that approximately half (54%) of Canadians say they are "overwhelmed to almost the point of paralysis in knowing what to do for people when natural disasters to the magnitude we've witnessed this year happen" and 83% of Canadians say it makes them "proud to be Canadian when the government matches donations of individual Canadians; they should do that for every major disaster."

Finally, in the month after the Tsunami hit Southeast Asia in January 2005 more than 1000 agencies were on the ground providing emergency relief but today there are only 100 remaining. A majority of 56% of Canadians say that if they were the Canadians government and had money to give to those remaining 100 agencies, they would give to relief agencies that stay in the region for an extended timeframe and ensure that rebuilding is finished and communities are rebuilt in a way that they are better than they were before the tsunami hit rather than give only to agencies that focus on the immediate early needs then depart once the infrastructure is put in place for people to rebuild at their own pace (40%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid/World Vision Canada poll conducted from November 25th to December 4th, 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians was interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within +/-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 weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

Please open attached files to view full press release and detailed tables.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice President
Ipsos Reid Public Affairs
416.324.2900
[email protected]

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