Even those saying Indigenous land acknowledgments don't feel personal responsibility for injustices: poll
And while anti-colonial renaming is pursued by activists, the poll suggests Canadians aren't concerned with many of the names criticized
Adrian Humphreys
Published Jul 01, 2023 • 8 minute read
Even those saying Indigenous land acknowledgments don't feel personal responsibility for injustices: poll
An Indigenous woman cries while hugging a loved one as Pope Francis speaks during a public event in Iqaluit during his visit in July 2022. Almost half of Canadians blame the Catholic Church for the trauma of residential schools. PHOTO BY NATHAN DENETTE/THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILE
Reconciliation between Canada and its Indigenous population is marked increasingly through words — spoken in land acknowledgements and written as names on things. A national public opinion poll suggests there is a wide disconnect between those words and how most Canadians feel.
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A solid majority of Canadians accept that injustice to Indigenous people in Canada amounts to genocide, but few think they have personal responsibility, even for injustices continuing today; few even blame the government. And while land acknowledgements, accepting this country is on Indigenous territory, are common in official circles, they are often received with indifference; even those saying them don’t often believe it applies to them.
“There is a real feel of rethinking Canada’s history right now. And our narrative is shifting and a lot of the shift in our narrative has to do with what we’ve learned in the past few decades, because we’ve left important pages out of our history relative to Indigenous people,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Montreal-based Association for Canadian Studies.
“Now we know it is very challenging to do justice to the proper incorporation of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s founding evolution.”
A national opinion survey by Leger conducted for the Association for Canadian Studies suggests the way Canada is trying to bridge that gap with words is inadequate.
The poll probes opinions and experiences of Canadian residents on the issues of Indigenous injustice, responsibility, the use of land acknowledgements, and the renaming of institutions and infrastructure that hearken to a colonial past.
Some results seem out of synch with recent headlines and social media activity. While anti-colonial renaming is pursued by activists and often accepted by officials, the poll suggests the vast majority of Canadians aren’t concerned with many of the names recently criticized. And only 20 per cent of Indigenous respondents blamed Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, for their people being the target of genocide.
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There has been a big shift to blaming the Catholic Church since the Pope’s visit
A solid majority of Canadians — 60 per cent of respondents — accept that Indigenous peoples were the target of some form of genocide in Canada, the poll says; 29 per cent strongly agreed and 31 per cent agreed somewhat.
A quarter of respondents rejected the genocide label and 15 per cent didn’t provide an answer.
Most Canadians reject personal responsibility for past and current injustices targeting Indigenous peoples, according to the poll.
Almost 80 per cent of respondents across the country said they strongly disagree with the notion they bear personal responsibility for past injustice.
Rejecting personal responsibility was most widely expressed in the Atlantic provinces, where 84 per cent rejected personal responsibility, followed by Alberta, where 81 per cent rejected the idea. Rejecting responsibility ran somewhat evenly across Ontario (78 per cent), Quebec (77 per cent), and B.C. (76 per cent), with sentiment mellowing in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (pooled together) at 68 per cent.
Nationally, 15 per cent said they agree they bear personal responsibility for past injustice. The younger the respondent, the more accepting they tend to be of personal responsibility.
Shifting the timeframe to injustices happening today moved the needle only a little — a majority still strongly rejected the idea they had personal responsibility for current injustices towards Indigenous peoples. Only 18 per cent expressed some agreement.
Almost half of Canadians instead pin blame on the Catholic Church — at 48 per cent of respondents.
That’s a change from previous polling on the issue, said Jedwab.
“There has been a big shift to blaming the Catholic Church since the Pope’s visit and the Pope’s apology,” he said.
Last summer, Pope Francis toured Canada and apologized for the “evil” and “catastrophic” involvement in church-run residential schools.
Previous data suggested a more shared responsibility between government, church and citizens.
“But now what we’re seeing, in this poll anyways, is this big shift to direct responsibility by the Catholic Church,” said Jedwab.
A little more than 10 per cent of this poll’s respondents blamed John A. Macdonald as being primarily responsible; nine per cent blamed the monarchy and six per cent blamed the people of Canada. Another eight per cent blamed it on a combination of all the above, and two per cent on none of them. The rest didn’t provide an answer.
Indigenous respondents had a harsher view of Macdonald than other respondents did — 21 per cent blamed him — while distribution of blame placed on other actors was fairly even between the two demographics.
Land acknowledgements have become a common part of certain public gatherings in Canada, from schools and governments to private companies and institutions. They are statements recognizing the traditional territory of Indigenous people where the gathering is taking place.
“I don’t get the sense that it’s been a grassroots movement, in terms of who undertakes to make them and where you hear them,” said Jedwab.
“You hear them from government, other policy makers, you hear them at conferences and very widely in universities and academies. You hear them at some sporting events — and that’s about as grassroots as they get. You’re not going to necessarily hear them on the construction site.”
Most Canadians have heard a land acknowledgement (65 per cent), but few have spoken one (14 per cent), according to the poll.
Land acknowledgements seem most prevalent in B.C. (where 76 per cent said they have heard one) and the least prevalent in Quebec (where 50 per cent said they have). In between come Alberta (71 per cent), Manitoba and Saskatchewan (69 per cent), Ontario (67 per cent) and the Atlantic provinces (63 per cent)
“With 14 per cent having done an acknowledgement, that tells me it is very much driven by policymakers and academics, civil society and probably some businesses. It’s not a broad grassroots movement,” said Jedwab.
There was some support expressed for making land acknowledgments compulsory before government meetings (44 per cent strongly or somewhat agreed compared to 38 per cent who strongly or somewhat disagreed).
But there was opposition to compulsory land acknowledgments before concerts, sporting events and conferences (40 per cent in agreement versus 42 per cent opposed).
There is a gap between politicians and the people on these issues
While few people have ever publicly made a land acknowledgment, those who have are most likely young: 41 per cent of the youngest cohort polled (18 to 24 years old) said they have made one, which drops significantly to 20 per cent just one age bracket up (25 to 34 years old) and slides down to five per cent for those in the oldest age bracket of over 75.
The poll tried to nail down how heartfelt the words were spoken and how well they were understood.
When respondents were asked if they think the city or town where they live is on unceded Indigenous territory, 34 per cent said yes and 35 per cent said no. More English-speaking respondents said yes (39 per cent) than French speaking (16 per cent).
The highest proportion of yes responses within Canada’s major cities was in Ottawa, at 47 per cent, followed by Toronto and Edmonton (both at 39 per cent), Vancouver (38 per cent), Calgary (31 per cent) and Montreal (24 per cent).
When asked about their own personal homes, however, far fewer people thought the land was Indigenous territory.
Across Canada, only 23 per cent said their own home is on unceded Indigenous territory, most in B.C. (35 per cent), fewest in Quebec (12 per cent).
Even among those who have publicly made a land acknowledgment, a third still didn’t feel it applied to their town or city and another third said they were not sure.
Even fewer accepted that it included their own home: 42 per cent of those who have made a land acknowledgement said it did not apply to their home or they didn’t know if it did, while 58 per cent accepted that it did.
“That suggests that there is something performative, for at least a third of people doing land acknowledgements. Or there is confusion over what they mean,” said Jedwab.
When asked if they thought non-Indigenous people were guests of Indigenous peoples in Canada, 37 per cent voiced some agreement while 47 per cent expressed disagreement.
Across all land acknowledgement questions, younger respondents were more supportive than older Canadians, and English speakers more supportive than French speakers. Quebec was a consistent outlier of disagreement on land acknowledgement.
“Land acknowledgements certainly have their place. We need to determine where and when they’re most appropriate,” Jedwab said. “And at the same time, be sure people better understand the meaning and implications of the acknowledgement and not do them gratuitously or in a performative way.”
Most respondents opposed changing the names of some of Canada’s institutions and infrastructure because of past injustice or colonial legacy.
Re-naming Wilfrid Laurier University, named after former Prime Minister Wilfried Laurier; McGill University, named after businessman, philanthropist and slave owner James McGill; Confederation Bridge, linking Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick; and the Colonial Building in St. John’s, N.L., were all rejected by a majority of respondents.
There were 17 per cent of respondents who called for renaming the Colonial Building, 16 per cent for Laurier’s name to be removed, and 15 per cent each objecting to McGill and Confederation Bridge.
No demographic group reached a majority in favour of renaming those specific places. The greatest objection was 46 per cent of Black respondents who called for Laurier’s name to be removed, followed by 39 per cent of Indigenous respondents in favour of changing the Colonial Building’s name.
White respondents were the least offended by the names: Colonial Building’s name was condemned by 14 per cent, the highest among that demographic, and McGill by 11 per cent, which was the lowest.
Young people were generally more interested in new names than older respondents. The 18 to 24 age group objected most to Laurier *24 per cent), the least to Confederation Bridge (19 per cent).
The bridge was named in 1996 by the federal government under Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Last year, the P.E.I. legislature voted to urge the federal government to rename it to a Mi’kmaq name. The vote was unanimous.
“There is a gap between politicians and the people on these issues,” said Jedwab. “There is not strong support across the proverbial board for these name changes. There is just not a lot of traction, at least not now on these select changes.”
The national public opinion survey was conducted between June 9 and 21. It questioned 1,705 Canadian residents.
As an online survey, traditional margins of error do not apply, according to Leger. If the data had been collected through the same-size probability sample, the margin of error would be reported as plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
