We believe in values, but we should test for them, poll says
Left-wing groups were disappointed but not surprised by a poll that showed Canadians and Quebecers believe immigrants should be tested for “Canadian values” — seemingly giving support to the platform of Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch. But
It’s a poll that suggests most Canadians support Canada’s welcoming of Syrian refugees and believe other cultures add to Canadian society — yet three of four Canadians believe immigrants to this country should be tested for “anti-Canadian” values, a survey conducted for Radio-Canada suggests.
But even if the CROP survey on our attitudes toward immigration contains some contradictions, it held no surprises for Haroun Bouazzi, director of the Association of Muslims and Arabs for a Secular Quebec.
“Obviously, we knew that there was a problem. But it’s not getting smaller,” Bouazzi said Monday. “We have been seeing that there is an international tendency in rich countries ... to reject Muslim minorities. And we also see that what happens in the United States of America and in France has a great influence on our political spectrum.
“Trump has been elected and Marine Le Pen is doing very well. We knew this would have an impact on our debate.”
Bouazzi noted that “there are a couple of (contradictions)” in the poll. “Most Canadians think that other cultures that come with immigrants are actually a positive thing for society . ... What we see is that the second we humanize people we are less inclined to be rejecting them. How the refugee crisis has been handled, the putting forward of values of welcoming ... by our political leaders and some media helped a lot to make a it a success.”
And even though three out of four Canadians favour testing immigrants for “Canadian values,” Bouazzi remains perplexed by what exactly such a test would entail.
“The problem is, what do we mean by Canadian values? And are the same people calling for a ban on Muslim immigration calling for a test on values? Is banning a specific religion a part of it?” he asked. “Even other (poll) questions — ‘Should immigrants integrate to the Canadian culture.’ What is that?”
Jack Jedwab, executive vicepresident of the Association for Canadian Studies and himself a pollster, also had problems with the survey’s wording as well as its questions, some of which he described as “loaded.”
“What do they mean by ‘purity’?” he asked, referring to a finding that 39 per cent of Quebec respondents and 37 per cent of the rest of the country agreed that “there’s too much immigration and it threatens the purity of the country.”
Jedwab also had concerns with the findings in Quebec that saw across-the-board support for a ban on religious symbols in the provincial civil service.
“When I polled Quebecers about fundamental rights and freedoms, the majority say yes, they’re in favour of their being respected,” he said.
“But the problem is that (the religious symbols ban) is a rights violation . ... You can’t have both.
“If I put a preamble in some of these loaded questions saying, ‘It’s a fundamental rights violation to support this,’ I guarantee you those numbers (of support) would go down.”
Bouazzi suspects no small part of the Quebec responses on Muslims can be attributed to the kind of headlines associated with them over the past decade.
“We have been talking about the Muslim minority for the past 11 years and associating this minority with problems, whether over accommodation or international terrorism,” he said.
“And because of a lack of diversity in TV and radio and in the media in general, people don’t see Muslims in situations where they are contributing positively.”
And Bouazzi is far from optimistic on how the poll results will be spun by some politicians.
“A lot of our politicians are just there for power and if they see that 30 per cent of the population (in Quebec) wants a Muslim ban, they obviously would surf on it.”
Parti Québécois leader JeanFrançois Lisée took aim at Premier Philippe Couillard for the dissatisfaction expressed by some in the poll about the integration of immigrants into society, as well as their perceptions of Muslim culture in Canadian daily life.
Despite 60 per cent of Canadians (and 58 per cent of Quebecers) approving of Canada’s decision to welcome Syrian immigrants, Muslim immigrants polled lowest with Quebecers on the question of which groups were best integrated into Canadian society.
Lisée was asked to comment on the online survey, which also suggests many believe religious garb should be prohibited for those employed in education, authority and public service.
While most Quebecers don’t believe wearing religious symbols in public should be banned, a majority believe educators, people in positions of authority and public servants in general should not be permitted to wear them.
About 60 per cent of Canadians — and 67 per cent of those polled in Quebec — believe immigrants should put aside their own cultures and adopt that of Canada once they settle here.
Quebecers were also less likely to welcome the construction of a mosque in their neighbourhood, only 40 per cent saying they would do so compared with 56 per cent in the rest of the country.
Years of inaction by the Couillard government, and previous Liberal governments, are to blame for the poor integration of Muslim immigrants, Lisée said.