Barriers to reconciliation
The absence of polarization is a step forward
Last week, on September 30, we marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Earlier this year, we published our annual Confederation of Tomorrow survey report on public attitudes toward reconciliation and relations with Indigenous Peoples. Among other things, that report covered answers to a question about barriers to reconciliation. Here’s the summary of what we found:
Today, I want to focus in more detail on perceptions of two of the barriers that were included in the list,1 and on the extent of the differences in opinion between those who do and those who do not identify as Indigenous. The items are:
Non-Indigenous people's lack of knowledge about Indigenous culture and history.
Inadequate Indigenous control over the education of their children and youth.
Here are the results:
Perhaps not surprisingly, Indigenous Peoples are much more likely than non-Indigenous Canadians to say that either of these issues are major barriers to reconciliation.
But, because I lean toward seeing the glass as half full, I think it’s worth emphasizing that the difference stems from the fact that non-Indigenous Canadians are more likely to see these as moderate barriers – rather than to say that they are only a minor issue (or “not a barrier at all”). In other words, non-Indigenous people in Canada feel less strongly that their lack of knowledge about Indigenous Peoples, or Indigenous Peoples’ lack of control over Indigenous education, are barriers to reconciliation – but they do not tend to reject the ideas out of hand.
To illustrate this in more detail, let’s look at the complete responses across the 11-point scale (running from 0 to 10).
There’s a clear difference in the most popular response (the “modal value”). Non-Indigenous Canadians most commonly gravitate to the middle and select “5” on the scale. Indigenous Peoples most commonly gravitate to “10” – the highest value.
What’s just as noticeable – and, I believe, quite important – is how little difference there is at the low end of the scale (the points below the midpoint). Yes, non-Indigenous Canadians are a bit more likely to select “0” (which means “not a barrier at all”), but the proportion who do so (7% and 6%, respectively, for the two questions) is very small.
This leads me to emphasize that the difference in opinion between the two groups is not that Indigenous Peoples recognize barriers to reconciliation while non-Indigenous people do not. And that, I believe, is encouraging. Non-Indigenous Canadians’ default response is to stand in the middle. This matters because we can imagine an alternative: when in doubt, deny, deny, deny. That’s not the pattern I see here.
Another way to summarize the results is in terms of the absence of polarization, in two senses.
First, non-Indigenous Canadians are not polarized among themselves. The curve looks like a mountain (most people in the middle of the scale) and not like a valley (most people at the low and high ends with few in the middle).
Second, there is little polarization between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous people. The two groups do not cluster at opposite ends of the scale.
There are differences in the strength of opinions. Non-Indigenous Canadians should notice this and engage with the fact that Indigenous Peoples are much more likely to see each of the items in the survey as major barriers to reconciliation. We should think about what we’re overlooking and reflect on what we still have to learn.
But because we’re not starting these conversations in a context of polarization, I’m hoping that they’ll be easier to have.
The Confederation of Tomorrow surveys give voice to Canadians about the major issues shaping the future of the federation and their political communities. They are conducted annually by an association of the country’s leading public policy and socioeconomic research organizations: the Environics Institute for Survey Research, the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, the Canada West Foundation, the Centre D’Analyse Politique – Constitution et Fédéralisme, the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and the First Nations Financial Management Board.
The 2024 study consists of a survey of 6,036 adults, including 986 who identify as Indigenous, conducted between January 13 and April 13, 2024 (82% of the responses were collected between January 17 and February 1); 94% of the responses were collected online. The remaining responses were collected by telephone from respondents living in the North or on First Nations reserves.
What is the Environics Institute for Survey Research? Find out by clicking here.
Follow us on other platforms:
· Twitter: @Environics_Inst or @parkinac
· Instagram and Threads: environics.institute
The patterns I report here are the same for all eight items.