Poll finds majority of Canadians not afraid of contracting coronavirus
EDMONTON — Nearly one-fifth of Canadians say they would move if a person who appeared to be Chinese sat beside on them on a bus, given fears that they might contract coronavirus, according to new poll.
The poll, commissioned by Postmedia Inc., comes at a time when politicians have expressed concerns over racist attitudes towards Chinese-Canadians, based upon the mistaken idea that there’s a link between ethnicity and the likelihood of carrying the virus.
“The notion that Canadians of one ethnic background would be more likely to carry a virus that doesn’t exist in Alberta is just misinformation,” said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney over the weekend.
Kenney held an event Saturday expressly to condemn racism, joined by members of Calgary’s Chinese community. The outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, has sickened more than 17,000 people and killed more than 300, most of them in China.
“We are concerned about racism and xenophobia that may be creeping into the dialogue here in Calgary,” said Calgary Chinese Community Service Association co-chairs Thomas Cheuk and Norman Poon in a statement.
These attitudes average out to 18 per cent of respondents countrywide, and are most prevalent in Quebec, where 23 per cent of respondents said they would move seats on a bus, according to the DART & Maru/Blue Poll.
They were the least prevalent in British Columbia, where 11 per cent of respondents said they would deliberately avoid someone they thought was Chinese, even if the person didn’t appear sick. (The polling did not ask people what they would do if there was a Chinese-seeming person on the bus who appeared sick.)
Other provinces show a marginal spread of those who would move: 21 per cent in Manitoba/Saskatchewan, 18 per cent in Alberta, 17 per cent in Atlantic Canada and 16 per cent in Ontario.
“That’s a significant sign that there are people who are looking at this just from a racial point of view,” said pollster John Wright in an interview.
Similar attitudes were prevalent during the 2003 SARS outbreak: Then-prime minister Jean Chrétien ate at a Toronto Chinatown restaurant, asking for tolerance.
Many Canadians, however, haven’t even changed their behaviour: 65 per cent are doing the same as before.
“I think the phrase ‘keep calm and carry on is good for this,’” Wright said.
Of the 35 per cent who have changed their behaviour, 20 per cent say they wash their hands more, nine per cent are avoiding public gatherings and five per cent have avoided “areas with Chinese people.”