Majority of Canadians agree historic injustices against Indigenous peoples still relevant today: new survey

A massive red cedar sculpture created by master carver Stanley C. Hunt as a memorial to the children who never returned from Canada's residential schools. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

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Canadians are more likely to reject the idea that historic injustices against Indigenous peoples are “mostly in the past,” according to a new Leger poll conducted for the Association of Canadian Studies.

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“The survey is especially relevant to debates about reconciliation and suggests that many Canadians believe acknowledging past injustices should inform current policy responses,” Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association, told National Post in an interview.

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“At the same time,” he said, “the sizeable share who say these injustices are mostly in the past shows that Canadians differ in the degree of ownership, responsibility, or urgency they feel regarding historical wrongs.”

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As a result, Jedwab suggested the survey, released for National Indigenous Peoples Day on Sunday, points to a key challenge for reconciliation efforts. He says it raises the question of how advocates could build support for present-day action “in a society where many recognize the continuing impact of past injustice, but many others are not persuaded that the injustices should drive current policy decisions.”

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The data reflects this existential divide, with 48 per cent agreeing that the historical injustices against Indigenous peoples are still relevant, compared with 42 per cent who disagree.

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Meanwhile, noted Jedwab, survey respondents differed by gender, age, and region. For example, women are more likely than men to view these injustices as still relevant. “I would suggest that men may be less likely to connect historic injustice to current social and economic inequalities, whereas women may feel that they better understand such inequalities,” says Jedwab.

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Canadians under 55 are more likely than people over 55 to disagree the issue is mostly in the past. The numbers on disagreement break down by age as follows: 18-34 (47 per cent), 35-54 (52 per cent) and 55+ (45 per cent).

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Jedwab suggested this difference could be attributed to the possibility that Canadians under 55 have been “more exposed to public conversations about residential schools, reconciliation, land acknowledgements and Indigenous injustices” through their schooling and workplaces, the media and public institutions. “These issues have become a greater part of the conversation about identity in Canada, with more recent generations more inclined to see relations between Indigenous and non-indigenous as the defining marker of the country’s historic existential challenge.”

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Regionally, Ontarians are least likely to agree that historic injustices against Indigenous people have lost relevance (38 per cent). In contrast, residents of Manitoba and Saskatchewan are more likely to say they are past (51 per cent). That latter part of the country “has the highest percentage of indigenous persons,” said Jedwab. “It may reflect different views about the role of government, greater polarization around Indigenous issues and/or local tensions where questions around land, resources, poverty, justice, and Indigenous rights are especially pronounced.”