Strong Majority (82%) Worried that People of Arab Decent or Muslims in Canada May Become the Target of Unwarranted Racism or Personal Attacks Because of Terrorist Attacks

Toronto, ON - An Ipsos-Reid/CTV/Globe and Mail poll released today indicates that a strong majority (82%) are worried that people of Arab decent or Muslims in Canada may become the target of unwarranted racism or personal attacks because of the recent terrorist attacks in the United States.

Further, while 27 percent indicate that they are "personally more suspicious" of people of Arab decent or Muslims from the Middle East, 73 percent reject this view and say that they are not.

The poll was conducted between September 17, 2001 and September 20, 2001 and 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 Canadian Census data.

While 82 percent nationally are worried about potential personal attacks on people of Arab decent or Muslims in Canada -- with 87 percent believing so in British Columbia, 89 percent in Alberta, 88 percent in Ontario, 86 percent in Atlantic Canada, and 86 percent in Saskatchewan/Manitoba -- the province least concerned is Quebec (66%). Younger Canadians (86%) and women (85%) are more likely to express this view than other demographic groups.

As for Canadians who are now "more suspicious", nationally at 27 percent, this is highest in the province of Quebec (30%), followed by Ontario (28%) and Atlantic Canada (28%), with lower responses in British Columbia (23%), Alberta (21%) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (21%). Older Canadians (29%) and men (28%) are slightly more "suspicious" than other demographic groupings.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Darrell Bricker
President & COO
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900